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Regime change 'not the answer'
15/10/2007 14:03 - (SA)
Singapore - Pushing through a sudden regime change in Myanmar could "create another Iraq" leaving the country engulfed in violence, the head of the ASEAN group of Southeast Asian nations warned on Monday.
Ong Keng Yong said regime change would have dire regional implications and that the best outcome was to thrash out a consensus between the military and the political opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ong, who is secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which includes Myanmar, said sudden change was not a realistic solution.
"Whether you are in ASEAN or not, if you sit back and understand the constitution and make-up of Myanmar and you say you want to have a regime change, you are going to create another Iraq," he told AFP.
"It's an Iraqi situation because there are at least 17 different major factions making up the population of Myanmar.
"Just look at Iraq. They (US-led forces) removed the former Iraqi army, the former Iraqi police and now what is happening? I think regime change is a very fashionable buzzword in certain quarters but it is not realistic."
Myanmar's ruling generals sparked global outrage when soldiers and riot police used weapons to disperse anti-government demonstrations last month, killing at least 13 people.
More than 2 000 people were arrested following the biggest protests against the military government in almost 20 years.
A UN special envoy, Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari, is currently on a Southeast Asian swing to push Asian nations to pressure the regime, meeting on Monday in Bangkok with Thai leaders.
Ong said regime change should not be part of the solution.
"If we look at the next step as a regime change, that is not really realistic. Even if you can force it onto the situation in Myanmar, that is very, very dangerous," he said.
Singapore, which currently holds ASEAN's rotating chair, has said the military must be part of any peaceful solution.
ASEAN admitted Myanmar to its ranks in 1997, and the group has long had a policy of non-interference in the country's affairs. However, using unusually sharp language, ASEAN foreign ministers have voiced their "revulsion" at the junta's crackdown.
As well as Myanmar and Singapore, the 10-country grouping also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
- AFP
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