EDITORIAL
Even though it is not yet clear whether Burma's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has staged any form of strike against the failure to bring change to the country's repressive regime, the international community must take the signals sent so far seriously. And it must try to act on it more thoughtfully than it has over the past many years.
The Nobel Peace laureate sent her first signal - seen as a significant shift from her usually cooperative dealings with the United Nations so far - when she refused to meet with UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, during his latest six-day visit to Burma late last month.
During the past two decades, since the military junta usurped power after Mrs Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, achieved a landslide victory in the 1990 elections, the dissident leader had always welcomed the UN's diplomatic efforts, as she herself believes that only a dialogue could lead Burma to democratic reform. The problem is that as the junta pushes on with its so-called roadmap to "disciplined democracy" which supposedly will culminate in a general election in 2010, it has also always tried to keep the Lady out of the scene.
With the UN special envoy being confined to the junta's schedule - where he may go and with whom he may meet - the UN itself risks falling into the junta's game plan. Burmese dissidents are worried that unless the UN manages to send out a stronger, clearer message about the roadmap, it may end up lending legitimacy to the process and obliterate the lawful result of the 1990 elections altogether.
The viewpoint expressed to Mr Gambari by Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is also worrisome. Basically, Mr Samak told the special envoy that the international community might need to sacrifice Aung San Suu Kyi if it wishes to see some measure of democracy being allowed to develop in Burma. Critics are concerned that the Thai PM might raise this idea at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month. As Thailand has assumed its turn as chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Mr Samak's take on the issue should be a point to ponder, unless of course the Asean community takes charge of the issue and finds some way for a more sensible and sympathetic approach to prevail.
With no details of Mrs Suu Kyi's latest condition and stance available yet, the pressure is on Asean and the UN to find a new way to continue the dialogue it has opened with all stake holders, especially the opposition leader, whose legitimate voice must be heard.
If the special envoy's process has hit a dead end, then some new options must be initiated which may include revitalising the process or starting a whole new method that would include all stake holders, in particular Mrs Suu Kyi, and help release the people of Burma from the repression they have been suffering for such a long while.
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