From baptism by cyclone to a nation's fresh start

From baptism by cyclone to a nation's fresh start

For the past four years, Myanmar has been high on the agenda of my service as secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Barely four months into my five-year term, on May 2, 2008 the ferocity of Cyclone Nargis hit the Delta of the Ayyawadi River, including the commercial capital Yangon.

Supporters cheer Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi during her election campaign in Hlegu township, Yangon, on Wednesday.

By all accounts, over 140,000 lives perished in the wake of the most destructive natural disaster in Myanmar's history. Over four million more in the Delta were teetering on the edge of life and death.

As the news of unprecedented death and destruction trickled out to other capitals of Asean, the international community expressed its frustration about the slow response to its appeal to send in search and rescue teams and emergency relief items to the survivors.

Some were even arguing that this was a clear case of "Responsibility to Protect" and that "the world could just barge in to save millions of lives" without having to wait for any consent from the government of Myanmar. According to this principle, a government cannot hide behind a claim of sovereignty and refuse outside assistance when it cannot provide relief and protection for its suffering people.

The pressure was piling up on Asean, which counts Myanmar as a "family member". High-level communications from all centres of world power poured into the highest offices in all Asean capitals. It was another extremely delicate issue which the Asean leadership was called upon to manage. A special meeting of the Asean Foreign Ministers was called on May 19 by Singapore's George Yeo, the chair of the grouping that year. I had to cut short my visit to Washington to celebrate my eldest son's graduation from Georgetown University. He has never forgiven me for abandoning him only two hours before he walked onstage to receive his diploma. My only refrain and consolation has been: "I was being baptised as the secretary-general of Asean by Cyclone Nargis. I will have to give it my very best!"

The rising frustration among Asean foreign ministers in handling Myanmar's resistance to the universal call for "opening up" was very obvious. I landed in Singapore after an 18-hour nonstop flight from Newark, armed with a strong pledge of support from Bob Zoellick of the World Bank. "We will be ready and stand behind you in this 'Mission of Mercy' that you are about to embark upon," said the president of the World Bank during my brief courtesy call on him to secure his commitment. For I realised fully well by then that Asean alone would not be able to assist Myanmar even if the authorities agreed to let the goodwill and relief efforts in.

In the end we were able to clinch a deal with the Myanmar government, represented by Foreign Minister Nyan Win. The choices were presented to Myanmar by the then Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda. "There are three options available to Myanmar. First is for Myanmar to resist the call and the world will barge in, based on the principle of 'responsibility to protect'. Second, Myanmar will have to deal with the United Nations alone because the world will not helplessly tolerate the suffering of millions. And the third is Asean and Myanmar facing the world together and conducting an orderly flow of personnel and materials for the rescue effort and the recovery later on."

And the most obvious sign of Asean's frustration was expressed by the then Foreign Minister Hassan of Indonesia: "This Cyclone Nargis issue will tell us how much Asean means to Myanmar, and how much Myanmar means to Asean." With that ultimatum, the Asean foreign ministers decided to set up the Asean Humanitarian Task Force and established the Tripartite Core Group to coordinate relief and recovery efforts in cooperation with the UN and the global and regional development institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

I was given another title, the Asean Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance. We decided to hold an Asean-UN Pledging Conference in Yangon in June 2008.

Together we raised more than US$2 billion and we stayed engaged for more than two and a half years in the Delta of the Ayyawadi River, south and southwest of Yangon. In the words of John Holms, UN emergency relief coordinator at the time, "Nargis showed us a new model of humanitarian partnership, adding the special position and capabilities of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to those of the United Nations in working effectively with the government [of Myanmar]." Asean was, Mr Holms said, "vital in building trust with the government and saving lives".

Fast forward to Bali last November, when the Asean leaders, after almost a year of deliberation, responded favourably to the request of the Myanmar government to serve as chair of Asean in 2014. The entire world had been in suspense regarding that decision. And US President Barak Obama reacted enthusiastically by dramatically announcing that he was sending his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit Myanmar in the next few weeks. As it turned out, the game-changing journey was conducted within "the next few days!"

Everyone seems in a hurry to visit the new Myanmar. Ever since Mrs Clinton's visit, or, to put in another way, since the fateful decision of the Asean leaders under the chairmanship of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, an unending avalanche of high-profile visits overwhelmed the authorities in Nay Pi Taw and Yangon, opening up a new frontier of diplomatic engagement and potential economic opportunities within Asean: a new attraction for business and investment filled with the synergy and dynamism of East Asian growth.

But this "opening" of Myanmar will continue to present a set of formidable challenges to Asean. Aung San Suu Kyi confided her "simple ambition" to a visiting Asean Business Club delegation to Yangon recently: "I would like to see Burma ahead of all the Asean countries [in the next 10 years]."

We in Asean should all welcome that "simple ambition" of one of the most charismatic personalities in the world today. Myanmar has not only opened herself to the world, she is now ready to compete constructively with the rest of the Asean member states and, by extension, with the rest of the world.

All along we have wished that Myanmar would have the readiness, the capacity and the willingness to contribute to Asean's community building efforts. This new opening, sanctified by a global icon of freedom and democracy, will usher in a new era for Myanmar and Asean and their relations with the world.

We have come a long way since Cyclone Nargis of May 2008. My painful and traumatic "baptism" has borne fruit. During my last few months at the helm of Asean, my "simple ambition" is to see Myanmar and its people benefit from the goodwill of the world and the opportunities that come with it.

Asean is ready to work with the government and people of Myanmar to realilse their rightful place in the global community.


Surin Pitsuwan is Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

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