TURMOIL IN BURMA THREATENS STABILITY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA;
PIMENTEL DENOUNCES BURMA'S NUCLEAR PLAN

TOKYO - Senate Minority Leader Aquilino 'Nene' Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) warned that the continuing political turmoil in Burma (Myanmar), caused by the repressive rule of its military junta, threatens the stability of Southeast Asia as he pressed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan to exert stronger pressure to help restore democracy there.

Pimentel bewailed that Burma remains under the rule of a military junta since it replaced a freely-elected government and jailed opposition leaders headed by Aung San Suu Kyi about 17 years ago. The military rulers, he said, have not fulfilled their commitment to ASEAN to adopt a new democratic constitution and to hold free elections.

"Burma needs to democratize because it is not fair that the military junta should in effect be allowed to continue forcing itself upon the hapless peoples of the country simply because they have the gun," he told the International Conference of Japanese Diet members and ASEAN parliamentarians at the Yotsuya Kumin Center here.

"Burma needs to democratize because the barbaric rule of the military junta is creating a humanitarian crisis for its people and threatens the stability of the region."

At the same time, Pimentel, vice-chairman of the ASEAN Interparliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), denounced Burma's ruling junta for threatening to embark on a nuclear program.

He said Russia plans to help the military junta in Burma to build a 10-megawatt nuclear reactor.

"Should the plan push through, it would be a recipe for disaster in a country like Burma where there is no rule of law that demands accountability of its rulers and where education, health and safety are not priorities of the government," the senator from Mindanao said.

Today, he said Burma is the world's largest source of refugees after Afghanistan and Iraq. By the end of 2005, some 700,000 Burmese refugees had fled their country.

The refugees are hobbled by all sorts of ailments, Pimentel said. They are also subjected to mistreatment at the hands of immigration and government agencies of neighboring countries when crossing borders.

He said Burma is also the battleground of the world's longest-running war, as the military regime has been prolonging the war against the ethnic Karen minority by targeting unarmed civilian communities.

"The effects of the turmoil impacts on neighboring countries and inevitably affects the region's stability. The war has been dragging on this ASEAN front yard for roughly 60 years," Pimentel said.

He said Burma continues to be the main producer of amphetamine in Southeast Asia and the second largest producer of opium in the world. Thus, he said individual ASEAN states face a public health crisis arising from drug abuse and addiction brought about mainly by drugs produced in and trafficked from Burma.

The minority leader said the mismanagement of Burma's internal affairs by the military junta has created scores of transnational security problems that undermine the stability of the region itself.

For instance, Pimentel said the military junta has done almost nothing to address the dire internal health situation and the social disasters they have caused.

The people of Burma, according to the veteran legislator, are struggling to cope with the ravages of infectious disease such as HIV/AIDS.

Pimentel also cautioned Japan against extending certain forms of aid to Burma that tend to strengthen the ruling junta more directly without in any way adjusting or correcting the unjust political structure that perpetuates the oppression of the Burmese people.

On this score, he expressed doubts that Japan's assistance to the upgrading of the facilities of the Rangoon International Airport or the construction of the Baluchaung hydro-electric power plants, roads, bridges and even schools and dormitories and the sponsoring of film festivals or judo sports contests could be excused as humanitarian assistance.

Neither could the assistance by Japan to Burma last year for national planning and economic development nor the grants for cultural purposes or the funds for the production of liquor from buckwheat be deemed humanitarian aid, Pimentel said.

However, he said it is heartening to note that the effort to democratize Burma is backed by many countries and individuals from within ASEAN and supported by other nations around the world.

"The sacrifices of Ang San Suu Kyi, and her comrades, have not gone unnoticed. In fact, their unceasing opposition to the ruling junta is well appreciated by freedom-loving citizens in every nook and corner of the globe and they continue to inspire us, in ASEAN, as well."