B.RAMAN
In his first foreign visit after being re-elected, President Barack
Obama will be in Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand from November 17 to 20, 2012.
His visit to Cambodia is to attend the East Asia summit. The brief visits to Myanmar and Thailand will be bilateral.
2. He will be in Yangon (Rangoon) where Aung San
Suu Kyi lives for a few hours on November 19,2012. He will have talks with
President Thein Sein also at Yangon and not in the capital. He will be
accompanied by Mrs. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, for whom this will be
the second visit to Myanmar.
3. The proposed visit has been projected in warm
terms both by the US and Myanmar. A spokesman for President Thein Sein said on
November 9: “His visit is warmly welcomed. It will strengthen the resolve of
Thein Sein to move forward with reforms. Obama's visit shows concrete support
for the democratisation process of President U Thein Sein, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Members of Parliament and
the Myanmar people. President Thein Sein fully believes that the trip of
President Obama will push the momentum of the process of democratic reform."
4. The proposed visit underlines the US confidence
in the stability of the Government of President Thein Sein and its belief that
there is no opposition in the senior levels of the Myanmar Armed Forces to the
policy of political and economic reforms and opening-up to the West undertaken
by Mr.Thein Sein and his c-operation with Suu Kyi.
5. While there has been no comment so
far from the Chinese Foreign Office, Qin Guangrong, Secretary of the Communist Party of China in Yunnan, who is presently
attending the 18th Congress of the CPC in Beijing, said that China saw no
threat to its interests from Mr.Obama's visit. He added: "We understand
and support the wish of the Myanmar authorities wanting to open up and become
part of the world."
6. Mr.Obama’s proposed visit will be coming less
than a month after a new spell of violence between the native Buddhists of the
Rakhine (Arakan) State and the Rohingya Muslims, who are projected by the
Myanmar authorities as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, not entitled to full
citizenship rights.
7. The violence, which led to over 80 fatalities
and added to the number of internally displaced persons living in camps, was
triggered by the opposition of the Buddhists to a proposal to permit the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to open a permanent office in Yangon
to monitor the human rights of the Rohingya Muslims and the distribution of
humanitarian relief to the internally displaced refugees from both the
communities living in camps in the Rakhine State.
8. While the violence has since subsided, a
Commission appointed by the Government of President Thein Sein to enquire into
an earlier spell of deadly violence in June has not been able to make much
progress in its enquiry due to non-cooperation from the Buddhists.
9. US officials dealing with the visit have
maintained a discreet silence on the recent violence in the Rakhine State and
sought to project the visit as meant to encourage the Thein Sein Government to
keep moving on the democratic path. However, there will be expectations from
the Muslims of the ASEAN region, who nurse feelings of solidarity with the
Rohingya Muslims, that Mr.Obama will exercise pressure on President Thein Sein
as well as Aung San Suu Kyi to pay attention to the human rights of the Rohingya
Muslims and grant them full citizenship rights.
10. The Buddhists are watching the visit with
apprehension that President Thein Sein and Suu Kyi may soften their opposition
to the grant of citizenship rights to the Rohingya Muslims under pressure from
Mr.Obama. Any impression of a US pressure in this regard during Mr.Obama’s
visit could trigger off fresh violence in the Rakhine State weakening the
ability of the Thein Sein Government to restore law and order and to re-settle
the displaced persons in their home villages.
11.Non-Governmental human rights organisations such
as the Amnesty International have expressed their misgivings over the wisdom of
Mr.Obama’s decision to visit Myanmar at this delicate time. They are worried it
could prove counter-productive.
12.In a report on the situation in the Rakhine
State due for release on November 12, the Brussels-based International Crisis
Group (ICG) has been quoted by the media as saying as follows:
“The flare-up in Rakhine State represents a deeply
disturbing backward step from Myanmar’s reforms. This is a time when political
leaders must rise to the challenge of shaping public opinion rather than just
following it. A failure to do so will be to the detriment of the country. There
is a threat of rising identity politics
in Myanmar as reforms give new found freedoms to interest groups. The situation
needs decisive moral leadership... by both President Thein Sein and Aung San
Suu Kyi to prevent it spreading and contribute towards long-term solutions.” The
ICG urged the Government to ensure camps for the displaced do not become a
precursor to the “segregation” of Rakhine and Rohingya.
13. Mr.Obama’s tricky visit is coming at a time
when sections of the Rakhine Buddhists are demanding a policy of separate
development for the Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, with separate educational
institutions, hostels and buses for Rohingya Muslim students. ( 12-11-12)
(The writer
is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi,
and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate
of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter @SORBONNE75)
