ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By WAI MOE | Prominent Burmese opposition leader Win Tin on Monday congratulated the citizens of the United States for electing Barack Obama as president. At the same time, he said that Burma too was in need of “regime change.”

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, the National League for Democracy (NLD) executive member said, “I would first like to congratulate the American people and president-elect Barack Obama.”

Win Tin continued by urging the US to adopt a multilateral approach toward Burma.

“We need support from the international community,” he said. “We want the US to work with the international community and the United Nations [on Burma].”

A veteran newspaper editor and political prisoner who was released from Burma’s infamous Insein Prison in September after serving 19 years for opposing military rule, Win Tin, 79, used the occasion of leadership change in the US to call for similar action in the Southeast Asian nation.

“We need regime change in Burma,” he said. “The people of Burma want change. They voted in the NLD in the 1990 election.”

The opposition NLD party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory in Burmese elections in May 1990. However, the ruling military junta refused to honor the election results.

Win Tin pointed out that previous US administrations had cordial relations with several dictatorial regimes around the world. He warned it was important for the “leader of the free world” not to compromise with authoritarian regimes.

Win Tin also said that more effective sanctions and proactive pressure from the international community were necessary for Burma’s democracy efforts.

As US senators, Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden have previously supported US sanctions against the Burmese ruling generals and their cronies.

In Obama’s very first speech after being declared the winner on November 4, the president-elect addressed US foreign policy by saying, “To those who would tear this world down—we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security—we support you.”

Prior to the US presidential elections, Frank Jannuzi, a senior Asia advisor to the Obama campaign, said that Burmese issues should not prevent deeper US engagement with Asean, according to a news report by Agence France-Presse on October 31.

“Rather, the United States should work with Asean to ensure that Burma lives up to its obligation as an Asean member,” he said.

However, Dr Tin Maung Maung Than, a Burmese scholar based in Singapore, told The Irrawaddy that the incoming administration’s policy on Burma will be difficult to gauge at the moment. However, he said he believed that it would be more or less the same as the Bush administration’s policy. President Bush’s Burma policy has been seen as radical and won praise from Burmese living inside and outside Burma.

However, the Bush administration was often criticized for neglecting Southeast Asia. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regularly skipped the annual Asean regional forum.

With on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a global financial crisis to contend with, Tin Maung Maung Than said he didn’t expect the new administration to engage Asean immediately. “Asean won’t be a top priority for the moment,” he said.

He pointed out, however, that President Bush had appointed Scot Marciel, a senior state department officer, as the US special envoy to Asean.