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Myanmar buys some
time
By Larry
Jagan
BANGKOK - Though sentenced to a
staggering 44 years in prison for corruption,
Myanmar's former prime minister, Khin Nyunt, has
been allowed to go home by military rulers anxious
to take up the chairmanship of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year.
After being found guilty at last week's
trial, Nyunt's sentence was ordered suspended by
top general Than Shwe and he was allowed to retire
on house arrest to his home in Yangon.
The
sentencing comes as Myanmar's military rulers
prepare to take up chairmanship of the 10-nation
ASEAN that includes Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam, and in the teeth of
international pressure to get Yangon to skip its
turn.
Several ASEAN member conducted
last-minute efforts to prevent the issue of
chairmanship, rotated by alphabetical order, from
overshadowing the annual meeting of ASEAN foreign
ministers that was due to begin in the Lao capital
of Vientiane on Monday.
Thailand's former
foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai visited
Yangon on a peace mission as Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra's special envoy, while Chinese
diplomats are working behind the scenes to support
Myanmar's chairmanship of the regional bloc in
2006.
Both Bangkok and Beijing are keen to
convince the rest of Asia that Myanmar's national
reconciliation is on track and that Yangon should
be allowed to reform in its own way.
The
sentencing of Nyunt brings to an end the unsavory
period that followed the arrest of the former
military intelligence chief and the mass trials of
his supporters.
"Khin Nyunt's trial is a
warning that anyone who opposes Than Shwe will be
punished, it is also a clear signal that no
opposition will be tolerated, even outside the
military," an independent Myanmar analyst in
Thailand, Win Min, told Inter Press Service (IPS).
Compared to the sentences of hundreds of
years in prison handed out to more than 40 senior
intelligence officers, Nyunt seems to have gotten
off fairly lightly.
The court took about
two weeks to find Nyunt guilty on eight charges of
corruption and bribery. One of the charges
pertained to the illegal import of seven cars for
his son's Internet company, Bagan Cybertech.
"The court hearing was relatively quick
because Khin Nyunt chose not to have legal
representation," according to a Myanmar legal
expert in Yangon.
But diplomats in Yangon
suspect that the outcome of the trial had already
been pre-determined and that a deal had been
struck in advance between the top two generals and
the former prime minister.
Although
Nyunt's wife had accompanied her husband to the
notorious Insein prison, she was not tried.
His sons - businessman Ye Naing Win and
military officer Lieutenant Colonel Zaw Naing Oo -
were sentenced to 50 to 60 years of imprisonment
for bribery and corruption on the same day as
their father.
The sons' trial had ended
more than a month ago but the verdict and
sentencing had been repeatedly postponed. They,
too, reportedly have been placed under house
arrest.
Several weeks before Nyunt was
taken to Insein jail and tried, there had been
contact between him and Myanmar's second top
military leader, General Maung Aye.
Military men have visited Nyunt at his
house, according to local residents. Nyunt was
also allowed a visit by one of the country's most
revered monks. All this was approved by Than Shwe.
With the trial of Nyunt and sons now
concluded, the junta can move on with its national
reconciliation process. On the same day as the
Nyunt family was sentenced, the former military
intelligence officers in Insein were allowed their
first family visits since they were arrested
nearly nine months ago.
Under the law in
Myanmar, the officers should have been allowed
access to their families when they were sentenced
several months ago. Instead, they were only
allowed a visit by the Red Cross in June,
according to relatives of the prisoners.
"The regime is now ready to move on with
Khin Nyunt's seven-point roadmap, but with less
flexibility - while Khin Nyunt allowed limited
opposition, Than Shwe will not negotiate with
anyone, especially ethnic groups," Win said.
During his meetings in Yangon, especially
with Than Shwe, Surakiart discussed Myanmar's
progress towards democracy, Yangon's chairmanship
of ASEAN, illegal workers from Myanmar in Thailand
and cross-border drug trafficking.
Although the trip had been in the cards
for some time, Thaksin discussed Surakiart's visit
to Yangon with US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice when they met briefly on the Thai resort
island of Phuket two weeks ago.
Thailand
hopes to support Myanmar's moves towards democracy
and report on the progress that is being made to
the ASEAN meeting and help defuse the growing rift
between ASEAN and Western partners, especially
Europe and the US.
Myanmar recently
released more than 200 political prisoners - the
largest single release of pro-democracy activists
since the regime seized power 17 years ago.
This came a week after the Myanmar Prime
Minister Soe Win met his Chinese counterpart Wen
Jiabao in Kunming and discussed his country's
political future.
The Chinese premier
pledged Beijing's support for Yangon taking the
chairmanship of ASEAN next year, according to
Chinese government officials.
Chinese
diplomats have been lobbying Southeast Asian
governments ever since to be patient with Yangon
and not block the chairmanship. The release of
political prisoners was part of the reform
process.
"The National Convention will
have drawn up a new constitution by the end of the
year and put it to a referendum in early 2006,"
said a senior Chinese diplomat.
Beijing
believes Than Shwe will stand down next year and
become a civilian president, while a mass amnesty
will be given to all political prisoners,
including Myanmar's democracy icon and Nobel peace
prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, say Asian
diplomats.
"China is keen to have Myanmar
as the ASEAN chairman as they believe this will
make it easier for them to increase their presence
and influence in the region," Win said.
The issue of Myanmar's chairmanship is
certain to dominate the discussions of the ASEAN
foreign ministers in Vientiane. Myanmar has the
support of newer members Cambodia, Vietnam and
Laos, while the other partners want to see more
and faster reforms by the military regime.
The UN special envoy to Myanmar, Razali
Ismail, who had a close association with Nyunt,
has also arrived in Laos to try to revive the
international organization's role in bringing
political change to the country and secure the
early release of Aung San.
"It's almost
certain that the decision on Myanmar's
chairmanship will be deferred to the leaders'
summit in Kuala Lumpur later this year," the UN
envoy said.
(Inter Press
Service) |
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