Regional Players

Goh Chok Tong
Straight Talk from Singapore

Singapore can’t be held up as a model of free speech, yet it was the island state’s former prime minister, Goh Chok Tong, who broke ranks with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2009 and bluntly reminded Burma’s ruling generals of the economic cost of their opposition to democratic progress.

While Burma’s other Asean partners continued to tread warily in their approach toward the junta, Goh told the generals with rarely heard frankness: “I don’t believe any Singapore investors would come [to Burma] in a big way before the picture is clear, before this move to democracy is seen to produce results.”

Former Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong (Photo: AFP)

What made Goh’s intervention even more significant was that it came not from the safety of Singapore but during a visit to Burma in June by the former prime minister, who currently serves as a senior minister.

Singapore is one of Burma’s most important Asean partners. The value of bilateral trade between the two countries exceeds US $1 billion annually, and Singapore is a favorite shopping and health care destination for Burma’s military elite.

Although many observers said Goh’s outspoken warning of the economic repercussions of Naypyidaw’s policies must have hit home, the regime still went ahead with its show trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi—drawing the Singaporean statesman into the ring again.

Goh said that although the trial was an internal Burmese matter, it still had an international dimension, and he urged the regime to allow Suu Kyi to participate in the 2010 election.

“The process must involve parties that oppose you as well,” he told the regime. “Aung San Suu Kyi must be allowed to participate.”

Abhisit Vejjajiva
A New Thai Leader with a Fresh-faced Approach to Burma

Since Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was elected Thailand’s prime minister by lawmakers in December 2008, the Thai government’s policy on Burma has shifted. Soon after taking office, the 45-year-old Oxford-educated premier announced that his administration would employ a “flexible engagement” policy in relation to Burma and suggested that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) adopt the same approach.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (Photo: AFP)

It was a partial turnover of the policy implemented by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who, after being elected for the first time in 2001, based the Thai government’s engagement with Burma solely on business interests.

As the Asean chair in 2009, the Abhisit administration issued a statement on behalf of the bloc soon after the military regime incarcerated Aung San Suu Kyi in May, saying that the “honor and the credibility” of the regime were “at stake” and calling for the immediate release of Suu Kyi. The Burmese regime “strongly rejected” the statement.

Further demonstrating Thailand’s new stance, Abhisit told his Burmese counterpart Gen Thein Sein at the Asean summit in October that he would like to meet with Suu Kyi when he visits Burma.

Wen Jiabao
China Turns Up the Heat on the Generals

China has slowly altered its Burma policy in recent years by advocating democratic reforms—albeit in words that must be carefully couched considering China’s own domestic politics.

In 2009, Premier Wen Jiabao stepped into the role of the Chinese official charged with putting more pressure on the generals to speed up domestic reforms. In doing so, he was repeating many of the same demands voiced by Western governments for decades.

The Chinese government was driving home an important point—the time for stonewalling is running out.