11 March 2010
Law Barring Burmese Dissidents from Election Is a “Mockery”
Washington — The Burmese election law that bars the participation of the country’s political prisoners, including National League of Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, “makes a mockery of the democratic process,” the Obama administration says.
Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley said March 10 that the United States is “deeply disappointed” with the Political Party Registration Law announced earlier that day by Burma’s ruling military junta. The new measure is the second of five election laws governing the conduct of Burma’s proposed 2010 election.
Crowley said the law prevents all of Burma’s more than 2,000 political prisoners from participating in the election and described it as “a step in the wrong direction” that “makes a mockery of the democratic process.”
“Given the tenor of the election laws that they put forward, there’s no hope that this election will be credible,” he said.
“We are also troubled that the law appears to bar National League of Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running. It may also prohibit her from membership in her own party,” he said. A more inclusive political process that allows for Suu Kyi’s restoration and ability to have a place in the country’s future “would be an important step” toward better relations with the United States, he said.
Crowley said the Obama administration will continue its dialogue with Burma’s rulers, but the United States will show “determination and resolve” and make clear that the junta must show “more flexibility” toward the country’s internal political process if it wants to see Burma advance.
“If Burma has any hope of the kind of broader relationship with the outside world … it has to find a way to have a process where it has meaningful dialogue with ethnic groups and other political movements,” Crowley said. This is necessary for the country’s self-interest, he said, and the United States will continue to press that message to the military leadership.
Crowley said engagement with the Burmese rulers is in the national interests of the United States and “a recognition that past policies isolating Burma have not had results,” rather than being a reward for the military junta.
“We did not expect to have a couple of conversations with Burma and have a complete about-face and change in the nature of their society, in the nature of their political process,” he said.
A senior State Department official who asked not to be identified said the continued lack of openness in Burmese politics limits the level of cooperation between the United States and Burma in the “short- to mid-term.”
The Obama administration would like to see Burma emerge from its long international isolation and is offering the country’s rulers a different kind of relationship with the United States, “but part of the depth of that relationship will depend on how Burma adapts. And this kind of recalcitrance will inform what we do in the future,” the official said.
