Transcript of Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo’s Media Conference On Myanmar’s Chairmanship Of Asean, 38th Asean Ministerial Meeting, 26 July 2005, Vientiane

Minister's Comments

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, thank you all for coming here to hear me. I wanted to make a few remarks on Myanmar. But if you have any questions about this conference that you want to raise, I would be happy to answer them if I can. We have ten minutes or so, this is a coffee break.

The decision by Myanmar to opt out of the Chairmanship is not an easy one for them to make. What they have decided is to decouple their domestic reconciliation and democratization process from the affairs of ASEAN. And this, I believe is a wise decision. It simplifies their own domestic politics because otherwise, they cannot concentrate on bargaining with the various parties within the country to create a good outcome. We should lay the basis for their return to constitutional rule and towards a democratic process. When we were at Cebu (ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat), they understood from the other ASEAN Ministers our concern about the external dimension. But we did tell them that at the end, it was their call because it would establish a very bad precedent for ASEAN to take away the Chairmanship from anybody. So they reflected upon it and decided at the AMM, to give us their response. We respect their decision. We appreciate their factoring in of ASEAN and we believe that by decoupling the Chairmanship of ASEAN from their domestic politics, this is good for their own domestic politics and is also good for ASEAN. So that is my comment which I ought to make because I have made other comments before in the past.

Questions and Answers

Q (Asahi Shimbun): May I know if it is the consensus of ASEAN Ministers that the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the returning of UN Secretary General Special Envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail to Myanmar as a factor to deem that Myanmar is ready to Chair ASEAN?

A: We did not discuss that at all. This is for Myanmar to decide. When Myanmar is ready to resume the Chair, we will immediately make way for Myanmar to come back in.

Q (Financial Times): Does ASEAN have any thoughts among the members' minds on what would signify the readiness by Myanmar?

A: It is for Myanmar to decide.

Q (Channel NewsAsia): How would this decision by Myanmar be good for ASEAN's relationship with its Dialogue Partners for example the US and the EU?

A: It removes a thorny issue. We made a clear position that despite external pressures, we would stick to our own principled position, which is, that the Chairmanship would go by rotation. So that was a call by Myanmar and they decided for their own reasons to opt out for the time being.

Q (Today): Was the decision by Myanmar made at the Retreat this morning?

A: No, they had decided in Yangon on the decision and they were here to inform us. I did not expect them to make their statement at the time they did.

Q (AFP): Has this removed a potentially divisive issue?

A: Yes, of course.

Q (Sydney Morning Herald): While it resolves a potentially thorny issue for ASEAN, it doesn't actually resolve the problem within Myanmar. Would ASEAN continue to work with Myanmar on that issue?

A: Our position is this: What happens in Myanmar, for better or for ill, the consequences would be borne principally by the people of Myanmar. While we can urge them to do certain things or we can express our views, in the end, they are autonomous and they have got to make the decision for themselves. Right or wrong, they bear the consequences. And we take that position. But in this particular case like the Chairmanship, their domestic politics and our interests as a regional grouping have been intertwined, and it is good now that the two issues have been disentangled.

Q (Australia Broadcasting): Doesn't this show in fact that the pressure does work? That the EU/US pressure worked on ASEAN, and ASEAN's pressure on Myanmar did work, that ASEAN does have an ability to apply pressure to Myanmar when it so decides.

A: Singapore was prepared, as I believe other ASEAN countries were prepared, for Myanmar to say, "Look, we insist on holding on to the Chairmanship." And if they had done so, this would have been a thorny problem. Our relations with the EU and the Americans might have been affected. But we were prepared to bear that because we felt that the integrity of the region was more important.

Q (Australia Broadcasting): The pressure worked.

A: We were prepared to stand up to that pressure.

Q (Australian Broadcasting): But your pressure worked.

A: The pressure within the family are of a different nature from external pressure. Did that work? It might have contributed to their decision-making process but I would not think that it was primary. I think their principal consideration was, if they have this Chairmanship hanging over them, it would have made their own domestic process of achieving reconciliation more difficult.

Q (BBC World Service): What's ASEAN's view and particularly your view on the national reconciliation of Burma? Would the participation of the National League of Democracy, which won the landslide majority in the elections, in the National Convention be brought back for reconsideration?

A: It is complicated. I do not want to be in a position to judge what is right and what is wrong. These are all heavy decisions to be made by the Myanmar people, as they are organised into different political parties and groups. I have my own sympathies but I rather not state them officially.

Q (Financial Times): Two years ago, when ASEAN Foreign Ministers called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, I wonder if there is any feeling about the lack of any evident role for Aung San Suu Kyi in the current national reconciliation process as has been outlined in the roadmap for democracy.

A: We have not rescinded that call that we made two years ago.

Q (Financial Times): Will you continue to express your concerns about this at the meetings, or is this just...

A: That position stays.

Q (Australia Broadcasting): Foreign Minister, what does it mean for the ASEAN way? Are we seeing a muscular way to achieving an ASEAN consensus?

A: No, it is a lively organisation. It responses to changes in the world and you talk about external pressures earlier. Indeed the external pressures on ASEAN have grown. We discussed earlier on - and this, the Chairman I'm sure will brief you in a few hours time - about UN Security Council Reform and how, as individual countries, we have been suddenly put under pressure to support one side or the other, and we resent it. And we are going to issue a statement to say, look, this is not right, and we urge the protagonists who are involved in all this to reflect deeply and try to move in a way which is less hurried and more conciliatory.
But as a regional grouping, we are responding now to the re-emergence of China and India, we are responding to globalisation, to the problems of terrorism, to the problems of income disparity within the region, and, I think, in a robust way. So the discussions have been very lively. That many of the discussions take place behind closed doors, not transparent to you, doesn't mean that the discussions have not been taking place. Sometimes in order to preserve our own solidarity, we settle amongst ourselves first before presenting a common front to you. And when we made the announcement on Myanmar, Myanmar was going to do it on its own. So we decided, no, we had to gather as a family, and we present one united position.

Q (BBC News): Can you take us through how this decision was reached? You just said that Burma has decided itself to do this.

A: Well, we address Burma as Myanmar in ASEAN you are aware. No, in fact, we have not even discussed the subject. They indicated to the Chair that they wanted to inform us as a family about the decision. So came coffee break, the Chairman said, "Can we adjourn to the next room in a more intimate setting." I was in the toilet with the Myanmar Minister, he said, "Yes, we are going to announce our decision." So I said, "Then it is important that we rally around you." And so we proceeded to the coffee break, he gave us the decision, and we rallied around him.

Q (BBC News): Did it come as a relief for ASEAN that the situation could be solved in such a way?

A: Well, it was a relief to us and it must be a disappointment to you (laughter).

Q (Bangkok Post): A lot of critics have come up with a response to the ASEAN and Myanmar decision and they said, 'Why don't you have a timeframe for the democratisation?' because it is a regional problem and also it will be a problem still for ASEAN in the next coming years.

A: We have defused an immediate problem which is a mixing of the two issues. You are right. This decision taken by Myanmar does not solve Myanmar's own domestic political problem. But as I have said earlier, is a problem principally for the Myanmar people to resolve for themselves.

Q (Sydney Morning Herald): On the East Asia Summit (EAS) we hear that Australia is going to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Is Australia guaranteed an invitation to the EAS in Malaysia?

A: For all intents and purpose, yes. Australia will, at this meeting in Vientiane, sign the Declaration of Intent. On this basis, an invitation will be sent, and Australia has informed us that it will accede before the Summit. The Malaysian host will try to arrange for that to be done one or two days before the Summit itself, and then all will be there when we celebrate the launch. We are looking forward to it. All of us.

Q (Today): Foreign Minister, are you the designated spokesman for ASEAN on this matter?

A: No, no, no, no. Because Singapore has given its views on this issue before and I did have an opportunity earlier to give my position, I thought I should do so.

Last question, (referring to the journalist from Financial Times) and your third.

Q (Financial Times): Two questions. Do you really think this is going to end international pressure on ASEAN regarding the conditions inside Burma or do you think ASEAN will still be under pressure from a wider international community to nudge Burma along. And the second question is, you specifically said you are a family and this kind of pressure in a family is different from external pressure. What role do you see for ASEAN in trying to encourage Burma along a path to greater prosperity than it currently has?

A: No, let's take a step back. Because the line of questioning is, if ASEAN were to step up its pressure on Myanmar, then with a wave of the wand, all the problems will be resolved and everybody will live happily ever after. We don't believe that because that's not the way it is going to happen. There is an embargo by the US and Europe, but Myanmar has the back-gate to China wide open. India, in its own geo-strategic calculation has decided to keep its side-gate to Myanmar open. So it must be in the interest of ASEAN to keep our side-gate open whatever happens in Myanmar. These are pure geo-strategic calculations. And Myanmar has decided from very early that it would rather be a part of South-East Asia than be a part of South Asia, and we welcome that. And that is the larger strategic picture against which all these questions are being set.

Thank you very much.

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