The Myanmar military crackdown of the monks-led peaceful protests in Burma has started with unconfirmed reports of several deaths and hundreds of arrests.
The Myanmese military junta is also shutting off communication with the outside world, closing Internet and telephone links, which through blogs and cell phone videos of the latest developments, had been the main source of information of what is happening in Burma to the outsides world.
Malaysia and ASEAN leaders must be in the international forefront to condemn the violent crackdown of monks-led peaceful protests in Burma and even to support suspension of Myanmar from ASEAN and United Nations if there is a repeat of the 1988 bloodbath where thousands were massacred.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said in the United Nations yesterday that Malaysia does not believe in imposing economic sanctions against Myanmar as this will not affect the targeted group but will usually hurt ordinary citizens more.
He said any hard or aggressive action would be counter-productive at this stage.
He said: “We think the best way of resolving the issue is to get the constitutional process on track, to get the reconciliation going.”
It is time for Syed Hamid and all ASEAN leaders to stop such platitudes and respond in a responsible and statemanlike manner to the Burmese crisis, with Burma on the cusp of another 1988 bloodbath.
The people of ASEAN and the world want to know what ASEAN leaders can do to prevent another bloodbath by the Myanmar military junta as Myanmar had been admitted as a member of ASEAN precisely to undertake national reconciliation and democratization in Burma.
It is not only the Myanmar military junta but ASEAN as a whole which is in the dock of international opinion.