Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: John Blaxland, ANU
With Aung San Suu Kyi now in parliament and Myanmar’s ongoing reform, it is time for Australia to increase the pace and level of engagement with this long-isolated state.
Numerous institutions within Myanmar require assistance to build capacity and implement reform (education is one key shortfall), but the military in particular must become the subject of increased and well-considered engagement. Read more…
Author: Jacqueline Menager, ANU
For many years Yangon has been a city of hushed, heavy silences, but in recent months these weighted and worried daily interactions have given way to new sentiments.
Some old hands, who are well acquainted with the silencing methods of the past, have recently been allowed to take part in this new mood. Read more…
Author: Sigourney Irvine, ANU
The Burmese government recently pardoned 651 prisoners, an act that international media greeted with positive fanfare and applause.
It may be thought absurd for a government to conduct such a mass amnesty, and the reaction of the media may seem even more out of place. But for Burma, absurdity has long been a staple. Read more…
Author: Vikram Nehru, Carnegie Endowment
Political and economic reforms and the lifting of international sanctions have set in motion Myanmar’s re-entry into the family of nations.
Already, the release of over 600 political prisoners and other economic and political reforms, including the re-registration of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy for the 1 April by-election, have paved the way for the restoration of diplomatic relations with the US and other Western countries. Read more…
Author: Roger Lee Huang, City University of Hong Kong
President Thein Sein’s actions over the last few months suggest he is a skillful leader who has the ability to balance the push for critical reforms while also preventing a backlash from more conservative elements within the military.
New laws have been passed in quick succession, allowing citizens a range of rights denied since the 1962 coup. Read more…
Author: Julie Sheetz, Harvard University
Even before the announcement that ASEAN member states had awarded the 2014 rotating chairmanship to Burma, it was already a foregone conclusion.
Burma’s campaign to be reinstated as a regular member of ASEAN gained steam when Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, began hinting at approval before his visit to Naypyidaw, Burma’s capital, last month. Read more…
Author: Jayant Menon, ADB
When discussing Laos’ upcoming ASEAN membership with a senior government official in 1995, he insisted the reason his country wanted to join the regional organisation was because Vietnam had just done so.
The response revealed two things. First, Laos, like its neighbouring ASEAN aspirants at the time — Cambodia and Myanmar — did not want to be left behind, and wanted out of the economic wilderness by joining ‘the club’. Second, there was very little appreciation of what membership would entail, let alone what it could evolve into. Read more…
Author: Roger Lee Huang, City University of Hong Kong
A new sense of optimism seems to be emerging in Myanmar (Burma). The nominally civilian government, formed as a result of last year’s election, has unveiled a series of reforms and offered an olive branch to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
When the former prime minister turned president, Thein Sein, gave his inaugural speech in March, he addressed serious issues such as national reconciliation, good governance and economic reforms — hinting at a divergence from the practices of his State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) predecessor. Thein Sein’s words have also been matched by concrete actions in the last few months, signalling the possibility for real change. Read more…
Author: Rizal Sukma, CSIS Jakarta
Indonesia has taken consistent steps to rebuild its international image since emerging from the political turmoil of 1998–1999.
The country has focussed on re-establishing its leadership role within ASEAN, and has demonstrated a desire to assume a global role by promoting itself as the world’s third largest democracy, largest moderate Muslim-majority country, and as a ‘bridge-builder’ and a ‘problem-solver’ in the wider global community. Read more…
Author: David I. Steinberg, Georgetown University
The case of US sanctions against North Korea and Burma/Myanmar is an interesting anomaly among sanctions.
Of all the states in the world with which the US has problems, North Korea places first, whether in terms of its potential threat to the US and its allies, South Korea and Japan; attempted nuclear proliferation, nuclear weaponry and missiles; its human rights abuses and its extensive gulags; its isolation; its aggressive behaviour toward South Korea; etc. Read more…
Author: Kyaw San Wai, RSIS
One month into office, President Thein Sein’s fledgling government has sent mixed signals on reform.
There are many uncertainties over the ability of the reformed Parliament to tackle social problems and ethnic divisions domestically, and over how the ‘new face’ of the regime will integrate into the region and be received by international players.
Author: Veronica Taylor, ANU
Visual images of regulatory failure in Asia are a staple of mainstream media in the west: contaminated food killing children; humanitarian disasters magnified by ramshackle construction; industrial landscapes thick with sulphurous smoke; corrupt officials facilitating transactions from traffic fines to people smuggling.
In policy literature these acute social, economic and environmental issues are attributed to deficient national and local governance and a lack of regulatory capacity. Read more…
Author: Morten B. Pedersen, UNSW@ADFA
International regulation of human rights poses a difficult challenge. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of Burma, which has topped the international human rights agenda for over two decades, with little to show for it.
This is, in part, a problem of limited international influence, which is bound to remain in short supply. Yet, it has been compounded by a failure of imagination. While we might not be able to end human rights violations in Burma, we could almost certainly do better. Read more…
Author: Iftekharul Bashar, RSIS
While the world remains engrossed in debates triggered by Wikileaks, a new threat from cyberspace is emerging.
Social networking sites have now become a potential space for recruiting extremists. This could be called the Facebook jihad. Read more…
Author: Morten B. Pedersen, UNSW@ADFA
After 22 years under direct military rule, Burma will soon have a new, hybrid government headed by former general and prime minister, now civilian president, U Thein Sein. This follows multi-party elections in November last year and the inauguration of a new constitution, which purports to establish a ‘discipline-flourishing democracy.’
The new system is neither democratic nor really civilian. Read more…