[Myanmar] Time To Ease Pressure On Myanmar, Says ICG

Time to ease pressure on Myanmar, says ICG

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

BRUSSELS: -- Western countries have no reason to continue sanctions against Myanmar but must help the government to overcome complex and numerous challenges since the on-going reform initiated by President Thein Sein a year ago has borne fruit, Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group (ICG) said yesterday.

In its latest report "Reform in Myanmar: One Year On", the think tank believes Thein Sein will continue his reform toward genuine democracy.

His ambitious agenda includes further democratic reform, healing bitter wounds of the past, rebuilding the economy and ensuring the rule of law, as well as respecting ethnic diversity and equality, it said.

Thein Sein, who took the helm in March last year, has done much to bring to this former military-ruled country reform in politics, economics and reconciliation with ethnic groups.

The landslide victory of pro-democracy Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) in April's by-election might not have altered the balance of power in Parliament, "but it is of major symbolic importance, as it has the potential to inject greater dynamism into political life", said the 20 page report.

NLD's 43 out of 45 seats won in the April 1 by-election made it the largest opposition party, but it is far from countering the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party which holds 80 percent of seats, plus support from the military.

Beyond making the country more democratic, all in government and Parliament face serious challenges. There is limited institutional and technical capacity to carry out detailed policy formulation and to implement some of the reform measures being adopted.

On the economic front, the government's progress might be slow due to a lack of accurate economic data and weak institutions, the report said. "This was perhaps no bad thing, as there are serious potential risks to moving too quickly on economic reform," it said.

The signing of preliminary ceasefires with the government by all but one of the ethnic armed groups is a major achievement. Nevertheless, a sustainable peace will require a lot more work, especially as no deal has yet been reached with one of the largest groups, the Kachin Independence Organisation, and serious clashes continue.

However, in the context of a six decade conflict with ethnic minorities, reaching a truce with 11 armed groups in the space of a year is a remarkable achievement, the ICG said.

"The Myanmar government has gone extraordinarily far in putting aside old prejudices and reaching out to even the most strident of its critics domestically and internationally", says Robert Templer, Crisis Group's Asia programme director.

"The West should now make a commensurate effort to forge a new partnership. With the long-awaited reforms underway, there is no valid rationale for keeping sanctions in place".

-- The Nation 2012-04-11