" the mrbrown show: ASEAN response to Myanmar
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ASEAN flexes it’s diplomatic muscle to tackle difficult nations like Myanmar!
Podcast: the mrbrown show 2 October 2007: ASEAN response to Myanmar Download MP3 (MP3, file size: 1.1mb, Time: 00:02:19)
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October 2nd, 2007 at 8:23 am
Dear Mr Brown,
Huh? ASEAN is part of NATO???!!!!
Bad NATO! Bad NATO! Bad, bad NATO! Slap their hands then they know!
hiak! hiak! hiak!
DOM
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:43 am
Straits Times October 2
“Whatever others may say, it remains for us that Myanmar is a member of the Asean family, and good or bad, we can’t avoid a certain association, a certain responsibility, a certain connection with the fate of that country.” - George Yeo
Really ironic that even after Burma misbehaves badly, Asean still desperately clings on to them.
Instead of taking positive corrective action (when it was needed) to curb bad behavior, now Asean seems to be REINFORCING that bad behavior by trying to cling on to that relationship. Where’s the punishment?
Where’s the leadership?
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:47 am
Spare the rod and spoilt the child. period.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:19 am
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/web-of-cash-power-and-cronies/2007/09/28/1190486569946.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:19 am
Someone remind me once again what the purpose of ASEAN is for. Didn’t do anything to improve trade and certainly didn’t help solve the haze problem. ASEAN is just another toothless tiger that in no way can emulate the European Union.
October 4th, 2007 at 3:08 am
For those of you out there who didn’t just notice that ASEAN exists, its “non-interference” has been around for about 4 decades, since the days of the original 5 countries, past many terrible incidents, e.g. the pre-tsunami bloodletting civilians by the Indonesian army in the Aceh region.
Strange that suddenly, far more is expected from outsiders, than what has been done all along, as if they own Southeast Asia.
Strange too that an Australian reporter from The Age suddenly takes the moral high ground, when the country he reports from has been shuffling its feet in the struglle to offset global warming, and not treating too well immigrants from our general region of the world, Asia (consider Visa 457).
Perhaps we’ve forgotten that their staunch ally, the Americans, used to supply & train the very roots of the Al-Qaeda, that’s made our world so much more tense in this century.
All this finger pointing & black pots & kettles calling each other names — how much good work really gets done?
If you live in Singapore & enjoy ANY perks as a result, join us in being equally guilty for our neighbours’ bloodshed.
Just like the Chinese saying goes, “Those who have fled 36 steps (dare) laugh at those who ran 72.”
October 4th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Why is there no action taken against Myanmar yet?
From ASEAN or the UN?
One of our people is shot on his way to work with his wife!!
Are we going to just take it & shut up?
We are just like this Hokkien saying, “Tao Heng Heng, Bey Leng Leng”
Talk so much…so garang…in the end….talk only…really NATO…
Really damn sia suay….
From the recent news, nothing is being done except Mr Gambari visiting them & the Myanmar junta just wayang their way through.
They have captured more people right after the UN envoy departs. What kind of proof or what does it take for the UN or for the Big Brother, US, to step in & stop all this nonsense?
What are they waiting for? Must wait until when?
Until the kingdom comes?
TMD….KNN….
Fedup…everyday read the papers…heart also pain….
October 4th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Some 15 years ago when Chee Soon Juan was pointing his fingers at Myanmar, our leaders said that he has been brainwashed by the foreign media. They calimed that everything going on on Myanmar was in line with the Asian Way. This sort of denial justified their dealings with the Burmese govt.
However, it’s presumptuous to assume that anyone doing business with Burmese businessmen is directly or even indirectly responsible for the bloodshed in Myanmar. Sanctions won’t work. They’ll only make the lives of the common people more miserable.
October 4th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
I read with sadness, Jonathan Eyal’s article on page 8 of yesterday’s (Oct 3 Wed) Straits Times (yes, yes, I know, every newspaper has its spin on things), about the Myanmar junta merely postponing its reckoning.
I feel sad because I find myself agreeing with the points he made, which summarised several pragmatic realities:
—
Popular uprisings seldom overthrow military juntas.
But sustained uprising unnerves the lower ranks to schism a unified military.
The junta does not have proper political & economic wings, and has admitted its economic failure.
So it reacts in the only best (worst) way it knows how — bloody crackdown through physical force.
Military governments seldom have smooth successions — they crash quickly after the first generation.
—
So why feel sad? Because the idealist in me wishes no more suffering & deaths, before changes come for the better; but the realist knows that misery will continue beyond then, until one day, Myanmar stands up steadily enough on its true feet again.
But like each ordinary person there, I can keep hope alive, and do my tiny part with it.
October 11th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Pity that PAP affiliated corporates have never had any qualms about financing and selling development for the gain of the Junta. ASEAN and Singapore in particular would be best served by not talking at all, or alternatively putting their money where their mouth is. Singapore’s banks of course also have no qualms accepting the personal cash accounts of the Myanmar’s military leaders. It is far easier for one of them to stash a few million dollars into any local bank in Singapore than it would be for you or me to try to deposit 50 thousand dollars in cash without any questions asked. C’mon, what Burma really needs are a few Integrated Resorts (surely some unit of the STB could advise). Then all the restless young men in the country can be paid to become happy Buddhist monks while we go there to party and tap its resources.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Response No. 10 is *brilliant*! Most of the others rock too (”final final one!”, “You see our hands?”)! Nicely done, guys!
November 24th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Once again ASEAN is NATO (No Action Talk Only). Many of their leaders are a bunch of political hypocrites, exerting and abusing power in their respective countries but hardly any influence outside (Fierce Tiger at home but a TIMID Mouse outside). Frankly, they simply let Burma have it’s way for only one thing,,,, MONEY and a strong lacking of testicular fortitude or simply, No Kahunas. What a Monumental Disgrace to Mr Gambari who came all the way here, the UN and the whole world to see. They shud have just quitely stage the whole fiasco in some hotel in a Red Light District eg Geylang and serve the chicken and duck from the vicinity, no need to have it at the grand Shangri-la. What a total waste of time, money. resources and opportunity if any!!!