Myanmar President Thein Sein has finally fixed the dates of his first official visit to Thailand. The country will welcome the leader of our western neighbour for three days beginning on Sunday.
The lead-up to Thein Sein's trip was confusing, to say the least. Twice, he was supposedly coming, and twice he did not arrive.
The delays to the trip were curious, made even more so because of the unconvincing effort by both nations to claim that nothing was wrong. Clearly, the delays in Thein Sein's trip had a reason. Because of the official secrecy, there has been intense speculation that the warm welcome given to the unofficial and popular opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was the reason.
Whatever the recent past, Thein Sein comes to Thailand as the head of a government which has made impressive reforms in the past eight months. The world's biggest companies now are lining up to look over investment opportunities. Last week, the giant General Electric re-opened US business in Myanmar with the sale of X-ray machines.
But the country and its leader still have a long way to travel to catch up on its 48 years as a cruel, violent military dictatorship. The recent ethnic clashes in western Myanmar have thrown off the facade of a united country. President Thein Sein uttered some of the most distressing statements heard from a reform government in recent memory.
He told the United Nations last week that the million Rohingya people in Rakhine (formerly known as Arakhan) state are simply not welcome in Myanmar. They would be placed in camps or, preferably, deported. They are ethnically different from the Burman majority, and they are religiously Muslim, he said. The "only solution" is to hand them over to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or resettle them in third countries that are willing to take them.
"Burma will take responsibility for its ethnic nationalities but it is not at all possible to recognise the illegal border-crossing Rohingyas who are not an ethnic [group] in Burma," said Thein Sein according to his office's website.
These are not tough words, but unacceptable ones. The Rohingya _ the word itself was invented and introduced during the military regimes _ have rights, too. They may have migrated into Myanmar at one time, but most were born in the western provinces of the country. Thein Sein may consider them as a nuisance, but the solution is for Myanmar to adapt to its circumstances.
The existence and problem of Rohingya should be raised during Thein Sein's visit. Thailand and other neighbours are all too aware of the plight of these people. Many have fled their homeland in Myanmar, and used Thailand as a stepping stone to travel further abroad. They have found no welcome in Thailand _ to the occasional shame of our officials _ but the root of the problem lies in Myanmar.
The shocking language of the Myanmar president may be excused briefly after his country's long isolation from the real world, enforced at the army's gunpoint. But Thein Sein must be disabused of the notion that he will find sympathy, let alone help as he seeks a solution to his problem with Myanmar people. If his words are disagreeable, he must know that any action to back them up will be unacceptable.
Myanmar is emerging from a long, dark history of violence. It is entering a new world, with norms that are quite different from 50 years ago. Thein Sein's statements about the Rohingya appear racist, malicious and threatening. They must not stand unchallenged.