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West dismisses Myanmar poll
Agence France Presse - November 7, 2010
Rachel O'Brien, Bangkok – The West has denounced army-ruled Myanmar's first election in 20 years, but state media in key ally China hailed the polls as a sign of progress Monday and most other Asian nations remained silent.
Led by US President Barack Obama, numerous countries decried the vote as neither free nor fair and called for the release of political prisoners including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sidelined in the ballot.
While China had yet to make any official comment, the state-run Global Times newspaper said Beijing supported "Myanmar's plan to transform its political system, but knows it will not happen overnight".
China has long helped economically dysfunctional Myanmar to keep afloat through trade ties, arms sales, and by shielding it from UN sanctions over rights abuses as a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council.
In its editorial, titled "Myanmar's election a step forward," the Global Times said Monday that countries neighbouring Myanmar should be forming their own views, "not following the West blindly".
In Thailand, as thousands of refugees poured over the border from Myanmar after post-election violence broke out between regime troops and rebels, a government spokesman said the kingdom had "no official reaction" to the polls. "We are waiting for the official results," said Panitan Wattanayagorn.
Aside from the Philippines – which described the vote as "non-inclusive" – other nations in the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has Myanmar as a member, also failed to react strongly to the election.
"This is more than a Burma issue, it is an ASEAN credibility issue," said Ron Hoffmann, the Canadian Ambassador in Thailand, adding that Myanmar's neighbours were chiefly interested in stability and influence in the country. "We are seeing some very conciliatory language," he told AFP on Sunday.
The contrasting global reactions came as officials counted up the ballots from the polls, which the regime's political proxies looked set to win after enjoying hefty financial and campaigning advantages.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would maintain "rigorous sanctions" against the regime, while Australia and the United States issued a joint statement following security talks in Melbourne.
Both countries stressed their disappointment with the elections and urged the regime's leaders to ensure that "post-election institutions be transparent, accountable and responsive to their citizens' aspirations".
Obama, speaking on Sunday in Mumbai, said: "For too long the people of Burma have been denied the right to determine their own destiny."
Japan, which unlike major Western nations has maintained trade and dialogue with Myanmar, also said it was "deeply disappointed" by the vote and called for Suu Kyi's immediate release.
The democracy icon, whose party won the last election in 1990 but was prevented from taking power, has spent much of the last two decades in detention and more than 2,000 other political prisoners also remain locked up.
New Zealand joined the chorus of criticism, saying opposition candidates were impeded by electoral rules which restricted their campaigns and registration, and hampered press freedoms.
"That the playing field was tilted was evident from the regime's refusal to allow credible international observation, or foreign media, to witness the election," Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also called for the release of political prisoners and dismissed the election, as did Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague, who said the result was a foregone conclusion.
"For the people of Burma, it will mean the return to power of a brutal regime that has pillaged the nations resources and overseen widespread human rights abuses, including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, rape and torture," he said.
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