POST BAG Asean, the hypocrite

Agence France Presse (AFP) has issued a news report entitled ''Asean makes mockery of rights body'' which criticised the hypocrisy and cowardice of the leaders of the region when it comes to substantive and procedural human rights issues involving its member states, especially Burma.

The other day the Asean leaders, in a summit meeting, bragged before the world mass media that Asean would someday be like the European Union in content, structure, vision, and aspirations.

That dream is a big joke and is more like a press-release beautification effort to sanitise the poor human rights image of the region and its top leaders.

I still have to wait and see how the Asean Human Rights Commission will turn out in terms of structure, composition, operations, transparency, accountability, moral courage and commitment to the enforcement of the universal precepts of human rights in the region.

I will need at least five years to do that. The commission must be strictly monitored by the world, especially the human rights advocates and lawyers in the Southeast Asian region.

At any rate, the AFP report stated Asean leaders barely mentioned Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at its weekend summit, making a mockery of the region's grand claims for its new rights body.

Leaders of the 10 states comprising Asean, including Burma, devoted just three lines to the military-ruled nation's political situation in the nine pages of their final declaration.

While the statement called for elections promised by the junta in 2010 to be fair, free, inclusive and transparent, it made no mention of the opposition leader, who has been detained under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.

The summit at Cha-am and Hua Hin opened with the inauguration of Asean's first human rights body, hailed by members as historic but derided by activists, given the lack of action on Burma.

The problem with Asean is that it is prevented from applying any real pressure on the military regime in Burma because of the association's long-standing policy of non-interference in member's internal affairs, which Burma's ruling generals led by Gen Than Shwe have abused for a long time now.

The United States seems to have caved in, too, because it now wants to re-engage the isolated regime after decades of hostility, thus, reducing the pressure on Asean to push for reform in Burma.

We the people of Asean must be frank and stop fooling each other.

Asean states, especially the Philippines, have been reluctant to admonish Burma because they themselves face their own human rights issues.

These include extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture during custodial investigations, prolonged preventive detentions without judicial interventions, localised genocide and failure to prosecute abusive and corrupt military and police officers and the political, drug, and gambling lords who fund them.

That is the long and short of the story.

MANUEL J LASERNA JR

Las Pinas City, Philippines

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Lopsided reality

Your editorial arguing that the legalisation of ''medicinal marijuana'' in the US negatively affects Thailand is disingenuous.

That the medicinal use of marijuana is a ruse for pot smoking is correct, because recreational smoking has been widely demonstrated to have limited harmful affects on the health of the average (casual) user, which is why there is such a large demand for it.

The criminal element attached results from the murky profits of a mafia-dominated underground industry that cannot be regulated because it's illegal.

Thailand is not recognised as a major source of this low-risk intoxicant. Its problems are concerned with opiates which is a different matter entirely.

It could be a marijuana supplier, given its climate, and if it were enlightened enough to legalise this and the cultivation of hemp, it might create large agricultural opportunities supplying the US medicinal market.

A possible positive side effect is that its street use might replace the more harmful yaba.

Of course, this flies in the face of misinformed public opinion, so this natural substance that presently causes far less problems than alcohol and tobacco will remain a class 1 banned substance.

Editorials like yours support this lopsided reality.

J WILLIAMS

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Win hearts and minds

I agree with Malaysian PM Najib Razak, who suggests that the government should offer self-determination within our constitution, and well short of independence from Thailand, to southerners (and, for that matter, others) in areas important to them, eg, selection of local leaders, religion and education.

Such an approach would be completely in keeping with Khun Anand Panyarachun's 7 Pillars of Sustainable Democracy, namely, elections, political tolerance, the rule of law, freedom of expression, accountability and transparency, decentralisation and civil society.

Limited autonomy would also be completely in keeping with the US Army's Counter-insurgency Field Manual, commissioned by Gen David Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of that manual, the New York Times (Oct 24) said, ''Drawing on dozens of historical conflicts, the manual's prime conclusion is the assertion that insurgencies cannot be defeated without protecting and winning over the general population, regardless of how effective direct strikes on enemy fighters may be''.

Local leaders, selected by and accountable to the locals, are far more likely to protect and win over the general population than those in far-away Bangkok.

Also, southerners are far more likely to be won over if Bangkok tolerates their political and religious differences to a greater extent than now, and permits an education curriculum fitted to local needs.

Democrats, use democracy to win over hearts and minds.

BURIN KANTABUTRA

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Thaksin is an angel

Let's be clear. Compared to Hun Sen, Thaksin Shinawatra is an angel. Whereas Thaksin might have monopolised power, Hun Sen is a 20-year master at turning a democracy into his own personal fiefdom - including a coup.

Where Thaksin was deemed corrupt, Hun Sen presides over one of the world's most corrupt countries and whose relatives were named in an international report on illegal logging.

If Thaksin silenced his critics and opposition with lawsuits, Prime Minister Hun Sen simply has them driven out of the country like Sam Rainsy.

And while Thaksin might be held responsible for the ''War on Drugs'' deaths, Hun Sen is a former Khmer Rouge cadre responsible for genocide and probably has a hand in stalling the trials.

Cambodia might be better off having Thaksin as their prime minister. How about that as a solution?

BANANA REPUBLICAN

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Refuge in Bangkok?

I figure that the recent re-igniting of the man-love flame between Thaksin and Hun Sen must have some ulterior motive. Here's my theory, and it shouldn't sound so far-fetched in light of events in Central America. Manuel Zelaya stoked the fiery passions of his supporters by momentarily crossing the border into his native Honduras from neighbouring Nicaragua, and then by taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy within the borders of his own country.

Now let's draw some parallels and you can join the dots. Cambodia shares a border with Thailand, and also has an embassy in the simmering cauldron that is Bangkok. The red shirts seem to be itching for a spark of inspiration. If Thaksin were to pull a Zelaya, the political situation in Thailand might just reach boiling point. My only advice to Thaksin: please wear a silly looking hat so we have something to laugh at amidst this political inferno.

Abishek Jirathaneswongse

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