By Richard Horsey
SLORC, the military junta which rules Burma, is well known as one of the most repressive regimes on the planet. Otherwise staid diplomats have used terms such as "hydra-headed" and "barbaric" to describe SLORC's recent behaviour. The US is blocking international loans and UN assistance to Burma until there is some sign of progress. Australia's response has been something quite different, however.
In retrospect, Gareth Evans' "benchmark policy" can only be seen as no policy at all. The benchmarks which SLORC had to achieve "in order for relations with Australia to improve" were predictably never met, and there were no measures to pressure the regime into meeting them.
Even official policy on investment in Burma seemed virtually non-existent. Potential Australian investors would be told simply that the Australian government "neither encourages nor discourages trade with Burma". Meanwhile, former prime minister Bob Hawke and Blanche D'Alpuget went to Burma to do business with the regime, sending a clear signal to the business community that there was nothing to worry about.
The policy of the Liberal government promises to be even softer. Several comments by members of the new government have indicated that there are plans for an ASEAN-style "constructive engagement" with SLORC, further undermining efforts by the US and several European governments to keep pressure on the regime.
This is a crucial time for the democracy movement in Burma, and it is important to understand why international pressure must be maintained.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel peace laureate and leader of Burma's largest opposition party, was released from six years of house arrest last year. Apart from this, there have been no other moves towards liberalisation by SLORC.
As outlined in a recent UN report, arbitrary execution, forced labour, rape, torture and other atrocities continue unabated. Many people have been arrested for political reasons since Suu Kyi's release. In one case a teenager was sentenced to a long prison term for sending clippings from Burma's state-censored newspapers to friends overseas.
Suu Kyi's own position at the moment is precarious. After she pulled her political party out of the SLORC's constitutional convention, persecution of her supporters and party members increased. So far, Suu Kyi has been left alone, but it may only be a matter of time before she is targeted herself, and perhaps rearrested — or worse.
SLORC will be waiting to see how much notice the world takes of Burma's internal situation in deciding whether it can afford to risk any crackdown on Suu Kyi's activities. If countries like Australia make it clear that they are more keen to join hands with SLORC in exploiting Burma's natural resources than to uphold some ideals of basic human rights, it is quite likely that Suu Kyi and Burma's democracy movement will be put in very serious danger.