Burmese people made their choice

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source : The Bangkokpost

I was struck by the extreme irony of the remarks made by the spokesperson for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry reported in the Sept 8 edition of Bangkok Post.

The spokesperson stated "current developments [regarding Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest]... are completely Myanmar's internal affair and must be up to the Myanmar people to decide".

I seem to remember that the people of Burma decided democratically their choice of a democratic government 10 or more years ago only to have their choice thwarted by the military. Madame Aung San Suu Kyi is still working to allow this choice to be implemented and any outside efforts are similarly aimed towards assisting the Burmese people to gain their democratically chosen system of government.

As the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry considers politics in Burma "...must be up to the Myanmar people to decide", shouldn't Asean be more forthcoming in promoting the Burmese people's choice of democracy instead of propping up a corrupt, drug dealing, military dictatorship?

G.W. Farrow
Phuket

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