BANGKOK: The surprise visit by former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas to Burma has turned the spotlight on the South-east Asian statesman considered best qualified to bring political change to the military-ruled country. A decision by Rangoon’s junta to permit Alatas to fly into Burma on Thursday in his capacity as a special envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is significant, especially when such accommodation was followed by a meeting he had soon after his arrival with Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

Rangoon has had poor relations with other UN special envoys in recent years. Malaysia’s Razali Ismail, the UN special envoy for political reform in Burma, has been denied entry since March 2004 while Brazil’s Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, last visited Rangoon in November 2003. Just how bitter Rangoon feels towards these UN envoys was visible during the ministerial meeting of the 10-member Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) in Vientiene, the capital of Laos, where Razali was snubbed by Nyan Win.

Outwardly, at least, Alatas is giving the impression that his first visit to Burma is to discuss reforms in the world body due to be taken up in September at the UN General Assembly in New York. But Burma watchers are hoping that the Indonesian envoy would also broach pressing issues like political reform in the country during his three-day stay. “Many quarters are hoping that Alatas will take the opportunity to informally address issues of political reform, democracy and human rights in Burma with the military leaders,” says Debbie Stothard of the alternative Asean network on Burma, a regional human rights lobby.

As important, she told IPS, is for Alatas to convince the military regime about the merits of engaging in a dialogue with the international community on Burmese issues. “The international community has always sought a dialogue with the regime, but the regime has not been interested in dialogue and only opts for making statements”. “Hopefully, Alatas can break this barrier,” she added.

Rangoon has over the past year been increasingly averse to engaging with the international community given the pressure exerted on the junta from many quarters, including the UN, to loosen its iron grip on power. Annan, himself, has increased the tempo on the Burmese generals to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from continued isolation and house arrest.

The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta is officially known, is also facing economic heat from an unprecedented decision by members of the International Labour Organisation to impose punitive sanctions on Burma for continued use of forced labour.

The Burmese government will be more receptive to Alatas because of his stature in the region as an elder statesman says Withaya Sucharithanarugse, an Indonesian expert at the Bangkok-based Institute of Asian Studies. “There is no one in Thailand or the Philippines to match him and I think Malaysia has antagonised the SPDC with criticism about lack of political reform”. “Alatas once said the best way of bringing reform in Burma is the Javanese way –slowly and surely,” Withaya said during an interview, referring to the culture of Java, which dominates political life in Indonesia. “He is not for applying too much pressure”.

Other Burma watchers say that Alatas will be able to speak the same political language that Rangoon does, since the Burmese regime has tried to model itself after Indonesia when it was ruled by the military dictator General Suharto. Alatas began his stint as Indonesian foreign minister during the Suharto era, which spanned over three decades.

—Dawn/Inter-Press Service