At least, please stop giving them more weapons to kill the innocent.
You know, I understand that running a country isn't the easiest job in the world. Especially if you have crazy acting neighbors whose rebel armies are always seeking refuge in your country and especially if you are doing a lot of business with the said country and you are profiting and of course, you are thinking of yourself before the other country. Everyone is a capitalist nowadays and everyone wants to do business with everyone else in order to survive. I know I get that it is a necessary gesture, I did learn something in Econ 101 after all.
I read the news in Singapore about how the ASEAN is trying to help the Burmese by negotiating with the Junta and all that and how they are trying to help the soldiers who run the country have an ounce of decency and act like human beings that they claim to be.
But ASEAN, did, after all, let Burma into the ASEAN chapter. ASEAN is not, really putting any sanctions on Burma at all. Is that a surprise, I wonder? I mean, it is a well known fact that Singapore invests a lot in Burma. One has to be blind not to see the number of "Tiger Beer" signs all over the cities. And this is the only visible sign; the invisible investing goes on much more. Thailand - well, I can't say much about Thailand as it is, having its own problems now but again, I bring up the fact that the Thais have a lucrative deal in getting energy from our dams, and seafood from our seas, teak from our forests and so on... The government just kind of said, take them, so I can't blame them for taking what is easily offered. Thailand benefits. And another well known fact that China supplies Burma with arms and a lesser known fact that Russia trains our military intelligence. All these countries gain to benefit from the military government staying in power because any crazy disruption would mean crazy disruptions in their profits, etc.
And I think that these countries think that the more carrots they throw the way of the Burmese Junta government, that the government will suddenly have a change of heart and become nice to the rest of the country. This way, then the investing countries won't look so bad to the rest of the world. (But for some reason, I do not think Russia and China care - just guessing - but they did try to get the UN from discussing the Burma issue.)
Hello? - How many years has it been -10? 12? - since the full on investing in Burma started and the junta is still in power, opposition parties still under house arrest and jailed and all kinds of craziness goes on in the country?
I mean, sure, there are loads of differences. Now, all the Burmese city girls dress like they are Korean girls from the K-dramas. Now, more of them speak English. Now, there are so many malls, I have lost count.
But are the Burmese people living in a democratic society? That would be a NO. A BIG NO. So I ask, isn't it time that countries who have a lot of business invested in Burma did something about it? After all, they come from democratic societies and they are supposed to be proper decent humans aren't they?
The Burmese junta doesn’t need anymore carrots. They need sticks and they need to be beaten with it. OK, if you aren't going to beat them, at least could you starve them? A little? I mean, most of the rich generals in power are so fat anyway, they will thank you for lowering their cholesterol.
At least, please stop giving them more weapons to kill the innocent.
Influx of weapons frightens dissidents
PRO-DEMOCRACY activists in Burma fear the hardline junta will use arms supplied by India to suppress opposition and slow the process of democratization in the military-ruled nation.
The Indian Government says the arms are meant for use by the Burmese army against the north-east Indian rebels based in jungles on Burma's side of the border. But pro-democracy activists say they and ethnic minorities will be the targets.
Some analysts believe the co-operation goes beyond targeting insurgents. They say India is courting Burma to counter China's growing influence in the region.
India's Foreign Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, told the junta's vice-chairman, General Maung Aye, last month that a "favourable response" would be granted to1 Burma's request for arms. According to media reports, Burma has asked for field guns, helicopters, submarines, mortars, submarine-detecting sonar equipment, surveillance aircraft and spare parts for MiG fighter jets.
India had already supplied Burma with a host of military hardware including field guns and howitzers, the Indian army vice-chief, Lieutenant-General S. Pattabhiraman, said in October.
Burmese pro-democracy activists say India began supplying arms to Burma in 2003. Since then 139 truckloads of apparent military consignments have entered the country via the north-east Indian border town of Moreh.
While the US and European Union are seeking to isolate the junta through an arms embargo and wider sanctions, India has taken the opposite tack in the hope of getting Burma's rulers to crack down on rebels from north-east India.
For years about 12 Indian secessionist groups have maintained bases in Burma. Last month the United Liberation Front of Assam killed 70 migrant labourers in a campaign against non-Assamese in Assam.
"Our crackdown on the groups was never successful in the past - every time the guerillas fled across the border," Mr Mukherjee said on his return from Burma last month. "It is impossible to crush these secessionist forces unless we take Myanmar's help and target them inside the forest there [in Burma]. The authorities there have promised full co-operation."
But some Burma observers doubt India's plan to get the junta to crack down on Indian insurgents will work.
Soe Minn, a Burmese journalist in New Delhi, said: "In 1995, Myanmar took part in India 's Operation Golden Bird, promising to flush out the Indian insurgents from Myanmar 's territory. But most of the insurgents still roam freely in western Myanmar."
A Burmese pro-democracy activist living in Manipur, who did not want to be named, said: "While abducting two of our colleagues Burmese commandos stormed our offices last year in Manipur in the company of Indian rebels. Last year, during a gunfight, the Indian army found Manipuri rebels were using Burmese ammunition, which is used only by the army there.
"We strongly believe the Indian arms and ammunitions are going to be used to crush ethnic minorities, like the Karens, and pro-democracy activists."
India is also helping to build military and civil infrastructure projects in Burma.
A New Delhi security expert, Rahul Bedi, said: "China is modernising at least six naval bases in Myanmar. The Indian navy fears this could support Chinese submarine operations in the region as part of Beijing's 'string-of-pearls' strategy of clinching regional defence and security agreements to secure its mounting fuel requirements and enhance its military profile in the Indian Ocean region."
But India faces an uphill task in neutralising China's influence in Burma. For more than two decades China has single-handedly helped Myanmar develop its military infrastructure.
An Indian analyst, Shyamal Sarkar, said India bailed Burma out of trouble last month by vetoing a Washington-backed UN resolution against the military regime. Friendship with a permanent member of the Security Council was far more valuable for the junta than ties with India.
"Circumstances have forced India into a competition of influence in Myanmar now. But in the race of military and economic influence in Myanmar, China is decades ahead of India."
