Western countries should engage the new regime in Myanmar to encourage it to continue with reforms, think tank International Crisis Group said.

The briefing paper "Myanmar: Major Reform Underway" suggests that Thein Sein, a former military chief and now civilian president, "has moved rapidly to begin implementing an ambitious reform agenda first set out in his March 2011 inaugural address."

He also has met his main political rival, the populist Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi in an effort to show the country is moving toward more transparent government.

"With the political process moving ahead quickly, now is not the time for the West to remain disengaged and skeptical", says Robert Templer, Crisis Group's Asia Program director.

"It is critical to grasp this unique opportunity to support a process that not even the most optimistic observers saw coming. This requires a new, proactive and engaged approach, in line with the positive signals coming from Naypyitaw."

However, ICG acknowledges that six months after "the transition to a new, semi-civilian government," many steps need to be taken to overcome decades of conflict and 50 years of authoritarian military rule.

Western countries should grab the opportunity for discussions with the more liberal-minded leaders in power. Such engagement will bolster their position against hard-liners in the power structure and other people with vested interests in the status quo, Jim Della-Giacoma, Crisis Group's South East Asia Project director, said.

"While there are strong indications that the political will exists to bring fundamental change, success will require much more than a determined leader," Della-Giacoma said.

Crisis Group has long held the view that sanctions on Myanmar -- targeted and non-targeted -- are counterproductive. They encourage a siege mentality among the political and military leadership and harm the country's mostly poor population.

With change happening, the rationale for sanctions is becoming less, ICG said.

A major stumbling block for the Myanmar regime's acceptance by the West is its military background. Sein, a former general, is a longstanding ally of former junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe, 77, who had ruled Myanmar, formerly called Burma, since 1992.

Sein led the Union Solidarity and Development Party in the general election. The USDP comprises mainly retired military officers who resigned their posts to join the party and run as civilians.

Also, one-quarter of seats in Parliament are reserved for military appointments.

But absent from Parliament is Suu Kyi, winner of the last national elections in 1990. Her National League for Democracy Party, which won the 1990 contest, didn't register as a political party because Suu Kyi remained under house arrest.

Now free, she has been urging the government to move toward more democracy. But she hasn't called for the government's resignation, although many Western governments suspect the election was rigged.

The ICG report noted the setting up earlier this month of a Human Rights Commission was a move in the right direction.

It came after the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, called for an independent commission during his visit to the country in August.

A report in the official government newspaper New Light of Myanmar said the commission -- 15 members, all retired bureaucrats and academics -- was created "with a view to promoting and safeguarding fundamental rights of citizens described in the constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar."

However, exactly what powers the commission will have remains obscure. Analysts have questioned whether the retired civil servants and scholars on the panel will have the will or the ability to challenge the government.

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

Tweet