A Burma Beginning

A Burma Beginning

(Babble On for the Sunstar Davao, Nov. 23, 2007)

There’s a quaint little country over there near China. It’s bordered by Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, and India on the northwest. It’s nice and picturesque, with one-third of its perimeter forming an uninterrupted coastline. The view must be fantastic.

Too bad the country itself isn’t quite so fantastic. Burma, or Myanmar, as it is now called, has been in the headlines lately due to its harsh crackdown on its Buddhist Monks and its treatment of the now legendary Aung San Suu Kyi.

Burma finds itself in the news again because it managed to block a planned briefing by U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari to 16 leaders from the ASEAN states plus other key Asia players such as Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

Burma even managed to force the watering down of key provisions in the landmark ASEAN Charter. The Charter, which would have paved the way for an EU-style bloc, originally included provisions to set up a regional human rights body. However negotiators were forced to drop sanctions for states that violate human rights. Burma was the obvious driving force behind the move to eliminate such sanctions.

It would seem that Burma has managed to do whatever it wants diplomatically. Philippine history will look back at this week however, not for what Burma has done, but for what our President has said about Burma instead.

President Arroyo has, amazingly or ironically enough, depending on which side of the political fence you are on, taken a strong position against Burma. She has publicly rebuked Burma on the issue of human rights. “Let me be very clear. We … remain concerned about the pace of progress of Burma on the issue of human rights,” President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said to reporters.

She even called Burma’s rulers “forces of authoritarianism” and demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi (who is, in a sense, Burma’s version of Cory Aquino, and a symbol of hope for the Burmese people).

Mighty strong words on the part of our President. They were such strong words that no less than Time Magazine picked up on her speech and included it in their news coverage.

“We will not rest in the pursuit of justice and reconciliation in Burma. We must be active in advocating peaceful reforms in that nation. It is good for Burma, for ASEAN and the world,” she is quoted by Time magazine as saying.

And for one brief shining moment, I am proud of our current President. Finally, she has shown the strength and conviction that I want in a President. Finally, she has shown us that she can take strong positions in a crisis and stand for her beliefs and the fundamentals of justice. Finally, we have a President that we can rally behind, if only for a slight moment.

There are those who would say that she is being a hypocrite, that she has no right to swipe at Burma when the Philippines’ own human rights record isn’t very clean. But these people miss the possibilities in the President’s statement.

It shows that there is some shred of hope left in the Presidency. Despite politics, despite Garci, Abalos and Erap, despite fear and anxiety and uncertainty, there is still some hope, some idealism left.

And we see that in this diminutive little lady we call our President, who took a jab at that little country near China, and who probably has one eye on her last three years in office.

Let’s hope there are more of these brief shining moments in what’s left of her Presidency. I may strike you as being overly optimistic, but the way our country is now, we need more optimism and positive thinking.

And so Madame President, if I may be so bold as to tell you this: it’s time to start thinking about leaving behind a good legacy. And this Burma statement could be the start of that. Burma could be the beginning of a whole new Presidency for the Philippines.