In this provocative conversation with Insight Myanmar, Kasit Piromya, a well-known Thai career diplomat, unflinchingly calls out the lack of engagement in Myanmar, not only on the part of elected officials around the world, but also stakeholders, diplomats, and government ministers, and demands that they do better, while offering recommendations as to how the international community should respond.
He expresses disappointment in the West’s stable democracies for their hesitation in confronting tyranny because, as he puts it simply, they should know better.
STRONG WORDS
“It's so blatant! Isn't there enough evidence already for the Western world, the so-called democratic Western world, to [not] still have hesitation and to keep on looking for more excuses of not doing anything?” he says at one point during the podcast with Insight Myanmar, addressing how far Western countries have fallen short of their publicly avowed ideals when it comes to the conflict in Myanmar.
“Then don't come and tell us that you are democratic! Don't come and tell us that, ‘We would like to promote democracy around the world.’ Where are the fighters of Europe that came out against fascist Hitler, or communist Stalin? All disappeared?”
These would be bold words from anyone, but given Kasit’s illustrious, 37-year diplomatic career— he served as Thai Ambassador to nearly a dozen countries and was the Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva— they are all the more powerful.
JAPAN’S RELUCTANCE
Another nation that Piromya expresses disappointment in is Japan. He firmly believes that as a regional power that is also a democracy, they could be taking a much stronger stand in supporting the resistance movement, similar to how they are calling out Russian aggression in Ukraine. He wonders if Japan might not be prioritizing its economic investment in Myanmar over the concerns of the people. “They are not carrying out their global responsibility on democracy, human rights and sense of decency.”
But Kasit certainly finds fault all around, especially in Myanmar’s own backyard. First off, he calls out the cozy relations that the Thai General, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has long had with the Myanmar military. Kasit believes that this is because nine years ago, Prayuth staged his own coup, after which the Constitution was amended to provide a legal framework for his becoming Prime Minister. For this reason, the Thai government has worked “to maintain the relationship and cordiality and cooperative relationship with their Myanmar military counterpart, ignoring
altogether the aspiration and struggle for the return of democracy by the Myanmar people.” Although Prayuth has since been replaced as Prime Minister by Srettha Thavisin, Kasit is not hopeful, as Srettha’s new coalition government includes parties with military allegiances, meaning that there will continue to be a reluctance to take actions which pressure the Myanmar junta.
ASEAN CHALLENGED
Kasit singles out the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in particular, because in his opinion, they should be doing more than anyone given their geographical, cultural and political proximity to Myanmar. While he shares a litany of concerns, his main criticism centres around the role of the ASEAN Special Envoy for the Myanmar crisis. As presently constructed, this position is under the aegis of the ASEAN chair (currently Indonesia), which rotates every year between member states. One issue is that past envoys have represented countries that themselves are undemocratic, and so they are hardly in a position to call for the Burmese junta to reform. Moreover, Kasit believes it would be far more effective if there was a permanent envoy representing the collective decisions and mandate of the ASEAN members who could engage in shuttle democracy across the region, rather than a rotating envoy beholden only to the current ASEAN chair country. This rotating system also prevents any institutional knowledge or sustained relationships from accruing, both of which are essential to successful diplomacy.
Still, even if all these suggestions were instituted, Kasit is far from naïve in thinking that the soft touch of diplomacy would magically resolve the stubborn brutality of the junta.
“So what is needed now is hard language and tangible action,” he acknowledges, pointing to the need for a series of hard-hitting, ASEAN-enforced sanctions to further cripple the military’s capacity to survive, as well as for greater coordination with the NUG on delivering humanitarian missions to vulnerable populations.
ASEAN CHAIR
Some hope that in its role as ASEAN chair, Indonesia may be able to push for more progress, as it is recognized as one of the region’s more democratic countries. But again, Kasit does not see much cause for optimism. “I think both [the Indonesian President and Foreign Minister] have been underperforming, not reflecting the true nature of Indonesia as a democratic entity… a big disappointment!” This is compounded by the fact that “there is no common ideology about democracy” within ASEAN, and indeed, Piromya points out that member nations span a broad range from monarchies to communist states. “The Five Point Consensus for the past two year has been more or less a total failure,” he continues, referring to the 2021 political agreement that ASEAN struck with Min Aung Hlaing shortly after the coup.
SLIDE TOWARDS AUTOCRACY?
As unfortunate as ASEAN’s poor response has been vis-à-vis Myanmar’s democracy movement, Kasit points out that its inaction has far-reaching consequences that will likely impact the organization itself. For example, he is concerned that their inaction in this case will serve as a precedent for passively allowing a slide towards autocracy in the region. “If you are a gladiator in the Roman Colosseum of the past, you have got to fight for your life! And now it's time for ASEAN to fight for human rights for the Myanmar people, and for democracy as a whole.”
Kasit sees a parallel between this situation and the current challenges that the European Union is facing with Poland’s and Hungary’s slide into authoritarian rule, noting that if they were allowed to remain in the EU without consequences, “that would be the beginning of the end of the European Union as a democratic entity… There must be some sort of a courage for the rest of the European Union leadership to tell Hungary and Poland what is black and what is white, and what is authoritarianism and what is democracy. But for us, we haven't gotten to that level yet.”
And pointing to the postwar history of Chinese and American interference throughout the region, Kasit stresses that ASEAN must work to better define their own values going forward so they are less prone to outside influences… and to him, this must involve supporting democracy and advocating for human rights. As China prefers to spread its influence nation-by-nation in a kind of divide-and-conquer strategy which allows them to exert maximum pressure, Kasit believes that if ASEAN could form a united bloc that promoted a consistent, pro-democratic message, China would have a harder time maintaining their influence in the region— and he adds that this would hold true in similarly decreasing India’s and Russia’s support for the junta as well.
IN HIDING
Kasit acknowledges a complicating factor in actively supporting the democracy movement in Myanmar is that many activists as well as NUG ministers are either in hiding in Myanmar, or living illegally in border areas. This puts large constraints on their ability to communicate with relevant stakeholders, yet without that, the hope for successful conflict resolution and diplomacy initiatives are markedly decreased. He therefore calls on ASEAN member state— in particular, Thailand— to provide them all necessary travel documents so that they can attend meetings in the region and speak out.
Turning his attention to the NUG’s quest for legitimacy and support, Kasit has little sympathy for those international actors who move at a snail’s pace towards a resolution while complaining about the complexity of the situation.
“The NUG is the result of the defunct demise of democracy, which came from the hands of the junta!” he exclaims. “You need any more explanation as a democratic politician? So in that sense, you have to go and support the NUG or whatever it is that was denied the democratic right to rule the country.”
CONCERNS ABOUT NUG
Finally, Kasit doesn’t hold back in criticizing what he sees as the NUG’s failures, either.
“They're quite amateurish and quite idealistic, but not realistic,” he says, and calls for a clearly articulated vision and consistent messaging. His vision for this has three components.
First, he says that the NUG needs to choose leaders who are willing to speak out in a much more visible way—even if they run the danger of facing targeted assassination attempts at the hands of the Myanmar military.
“They have to take the risk of their life because that is a noble thing called service to the country,” he says. “So their life is secondary, because this is a very crucial time for them to take the mantle of leadership and take the risks, even to their physical well-being to their life.”
Second, Kasit says that democratic leaders must finally be willing to move beyond Aung San Suu Kyi, and forge new identities and new values.
“They have to cut off themselves from the aura of Aung San Suu Kyi,” he says. “And we all must tell Aung San Suu Kyi that she can retire from politics, because her leadership of the past five years before the coup d’état was a total failure, at least from the eyes of the international community. So there should not be any more nostalgia about [her] coming back into politics.”
NO TO BURMANIZATION
Finally, Kasit explains that the NUG must firmly reject all past Burmanization policies, both those that the junta has promoted, but also the NLD in prior administrations. He would also like to see federal democracies, like Germany, Canada, and the United States, play a more active role in helping to formulate a charter in Myanmar.
“The odds are very much against us,” he admits in closing. “But there is a larger undertaking. We have to overcome the odds and try to meet the odds as much as we can. We have to have that determination and not to be disheartened and give up, or to do things in a [half-hearted] manner. You have to have the self-belief that in spite of the odds, we can overcome the odds and bring back democracy into Myanmar. You have to have that self-belief!”
Please check out the full podcast at Insight Myanmar: https://insightmyanmar.org/complete-shows/2023/9/28/episode-192-no-count...
