Why Fellow Southeast Asian Nations Can’t Censure Myanmar over Human Rights

TAIPEI - Southeast Asia’s powerful negotiating bloc has ignored pressure to chase Myanmar over violence and suspected human rights problems, ensuring that a negative spotlight does not turn on other members or threaten the group’s prized neutrality, analysts believe. 

They say any public condemnation of Myanmar’s junta government, which took power in a February 1 coup, or the threat of action against it would expose at least five other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members to scrutiny over human rights issues as perceived by critics in the West.  “If ASEAN violates and crosses the line by passing judgments on each other’s internal affairs, this would be slippery because most ASEAN governments have skeletons in the closet,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.  Bloc members Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines have been accused of mishandling human rights and civil liberties over the years.