Singapore - The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is not planning to use the leverage of ongoing humanitarian operations for cyclone victims in Myanmar to pressure the country's military junta to implement democratic reforms. Officials with the 10-member regional grouping said the ASEAN-led international mission to help nearly 2 million people displaced by cyclone Nargis is purely a humanitarian mission and will not be tainted by politics.
Nargis pummelled Myanmar's central coastal region in early May, wreaking havoc on the rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta and the former capital of Yangon and left about 140,000 people dead or missing.
A senior ASEAN diplomat said the bloc will not go further than issuing a "gentle reminder" of hopes for greater freedoms.
"It is clear and everyone agrees that it's a humanitarian issue and it should not be mixed with politics," said the diplomat requesting anonymity.
ASEAN, which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has been condemned by Western countries and human rights groups for failing to exert greater pressure of Myanmar to implement greater freedoms.
Prior to Nargis, Myanmar was blasted by the international community for violent crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters that left scores of protesters dead and hundreds of activists in prison.
The ASEAN diplomat said that while the United States and Europe are free to raise the political and human rights issues relating to Myanmar again during a regional security forum later in the week, ASEAN will simply take note of it.
"It will be counter-productive if we pressure the Myanmar junta," he said, as the likelihood would be more resistance to reforms.
"All the sanctions imposed by other countries have not worked in forcing Myanmar to implement democratic reforms," he said referring to the US and EU.
ASEAN Director General Surin Pitsuwan agreed and noted that tying aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims with political issues could generate resistance from the junta.
"We are addressing the emergency issue in front of us," Surin said. "If we complicate issues early on we may have that space limited and that will not be good for the victims and the people who need help.
"There are many ways of going around some thorny issues between and among us," he added. "I think you have to be creative, you have to be on alert that there are ways and means to address the same problems, but maybe not in the same way, not in the same manner as everyone would like to do."
Members of the Humanitarian Task Force, which included representatives from the UN and Myanmar, will present to the foreign ministers their report on the relief and rehabilitation efforts in the country.
The UN is hoping the report will help generate some 480 million dollars in fresh emergency funding over the next year in order to intensify rehabilitation efforts.
Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, warned ASEAN against kowtowing to the whims and caprices of the military junta that has turned the tragedy into cash cow.
"There has to be reforms in governance so that the system will become more transparent, more accountable and less corrupt," she said.
"Therewas widespread documentation that international aid for the victims of Nargis was being repacked and given to people as dole-outs of the generals," Stothard said. "The junta also jacked up the estimated cost of rehabilitation to 11 billion dollars from the 4 billion dollars estimated by international agencies."
