ASEAN’S Secretary-General Reports on Burma

ASEAN Secretary-General addresses the FCCT in Bangkok

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Bangkok. February 24, 2012. The Association of South East Asian Nations is this part of the world’s most important regional organization, and its current head, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, an experienced Thai diplomat, whose rotating five-year term as secretary-general ends at the end of this year, recently spent five days in Burma to assess the changes taking place in the world’s longest standing military dictatorship. Burma, under a new constitution put together by the military generals to assure continued military control, and following elections last year which are widely seen as controlled by the military, is, nonetheless, making steps towards reform on what the generals say is a road to democracy. Dr. Pitsuwan’s assessment of progress is optimistic.

Dr. Pitsuwan reports that the commitment for reform is real and that it is being done in a relatively open atmosphere. He does not believe that it is a mirage. He maintains that international confidence in the process is crucial, as is international recognition and legitimacy. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Burma in December of last year, a break-through visit which has been heralded as the beginning of the end of Burma’s isolation from the international community and, perhaps, the beginning of the end of its nearly total reliance on China. This nation of 60 million diverse people, rich in energy and natural resources, occupies a key geographic location between China and India. Dr. Pitsuwan urges patience, arguing that Burma must be allowed to implement democratic and economic reforms at its own pace. The world is watching.