Anutin Charnvirakul should use face-to-face talks with a murderous tyrant to deliver clear messages
By Benedict Rogers in UCA News
Myanmar’s dictator Min Aung Hlaing is expected to visit Thailand next week, on the latest leg of his regional tour in search of legitimacy, credibility and recognition after sham elections earlier this year. It follows visits to China and India and begins just two days before the people of Myanmar commemorate one of the country’s most brutal crackdowns in its decades-long struggle for democracy, known as “8888.”
On August 8, 1988, thousands of peaceful demonstrators were gunned down by the then military regime — and 38 years on, Min Aung Hlaing is only intensifying that record of bloodshed and repression.
His visit poses two questions.
Should the Kingdom of Thailand be receiving such an illegitimate, brutal, criminal dictator, who stands accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide?
And if so, how should the Thai government, led by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, handle Min Aung Hlaing?
There are many reasons why it is a mistake to invite Min Aung Hlaing.
For a start, he is a totally illegitimate leader of a completely illegal regime which seized power in a coup five years ago, overthrowing the democratically elected civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
He has no mandate from the people. The so-called elections held just over six months ago were a complete sham. Over 40 pro-democracy political parties, including Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, were banned from participating, most of the population was disenfranchised as a consequence of military attacks on civilians, and tens of thousands of political prisoners, including many former elected legislators and ministers, were in jail.
Their only aim was to give a fig-leaf of legitimacy to a ruthless military junta. But changing from his military uniform into presidential dress doesn’t make Min Aung Hlaing any more legitimate. Most of the world, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), refused to recognize the election as legitimate.
Today, over 14,000 political prisoners remain in jail, and 81-year-old Suu Kyi continues to be detained, her whereabouts and well-being unknown. At the end of April, it was reported that she had been moved from prison to house arrest, but no details of where she is now held have been revealed. Concerns about her health linger, and it is not even known whether she is still alive.
Her son, Kim Aris, has launched a campaign to urge the regime to prove that she is still living.
Last week, in a high-level briefing in the United States Congress, Zin Mar Aung, the foreign minister of Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) — which partially consists of those elected in the country’s last legitimate elections in 2020 and operates as a government-in-exile — joined this campaign, urging United States legislators to press Min Aung Hlaing’s regime to verify that she is alive.
Min Aung Hlaing’s regime continues almost daily airstrikes and military ground attacks against civilians throughout the country, bombing homes, camps for the millions of internally displaced, schools, hospitals, Buddhist monasteries, Christian churches, and Muslim mosques.
According to the United Nations, more than 3.8 million people have been displaced since the coup five years ago, and the real figure is likely to be much higher. A recent report by an independent monitoring group claims that over 100,000 people have died since the coup.
The conflict in Myanmar is now the deadliest in Asia and can no longer be ignored.
In recent days, Min Aung Hlaing’s junta has shown no sign of relaxation of repression. On the contrary, the attacks are relentless and increasing, according to news reports. Earlier this week, the military even attacked the birthplace of Myanmar’s first-ever Cardinal, Charles Bo — not for the first time.
The conflict in Myanmar is now the deadliest in Asia and can no longer be ignored.
Just read the reports which Fortify Rights — the organization I am privileged to work with — has researched and documented, to see the horrific humanitarian impact of airstrikes carried out by fighter jets, drones, paramotors and gyrocopters. These reports, and those of other human rights organisations, media and international humanitarian agencies, should be studied at the highest levels by the Thai authorities in the coming days, in preparation for the discussions they will have with Min Aung Hlaing.
So, should Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul shake Min Aung Hlaing’s bloodstained hand in Bangkok? That is a question that should trouble his conscience over the next few days — he will be meeting with a notorious war criminal.
But assuming the visit will proceed as planned, the much more important question is how the Thai government should handle it?
The reality is that diplomacy requires engagement, peace-making involves dialogue, and negotiating a way forward inevitably involves supping with the Devil. But those who sup with the Devil should do so with a long spoon. And the question is, how long should that spoon be?
Anutin Charnvirakul should make sure the spoon is as long as possible. He should use the occasion of face-to-face talks with a murderous tyrant to deliver clear messages and make any further engagement conditional on certain benchmarks of progress.
He must insist that no further dialogue can possibly occur until Min Aung Hlaing releases all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, unconditionally.
He must be clear that no rapprochement is possible while Min Aung Hlaing’s military continues to bomb civilians from the sky or attack them on the ground.
He must press Min Aung Hlaing to declare an unconditional nationwide ceasefire and then make a serious effort to establish a credible dialogue with all stakeholders to chart a course towards genuine peace and true federal democracy, one in which the rights of people of all ethnicities and religions are respected.
He must stop forcibly returning Myanmar refugees who are fleeing conflict and persecution.
And he must act to stop funding and arming Myanmar’s illegal regime, ordering Thai banks to stop facilitating financial transactions for Myanmar to buy weapons, and Thai weapons manufacturers to stop selling weapons and munitions to Myanmar.
He should review the former UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews’ report,Banking on the Death Trade: How Banks and Governments Enable the military Junta in Myanmar, and act on its recommendations.
Most foreign governments — from the United States and the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Japan, and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Thailand is a member — do not recognize Min Aung Hlaing as a legitimate leader of Myanmar. Thailand should uphold that consensus.
If it is bold and creative, the Kingdom of Thailand could use Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to pivot from the position of perceived appeaser to that of principled peace-seeker.
Without ignoring the fact that Min Aung Hlaing is a wanted criminal — with a warrant for his arrest issued by Argentina and a request for the same from the International Criminal Court — Thailand can use this moment to offer Myanmar’s mass murderer a choice: stand down, stop the atrocities, release the prisoners, and chart a new future of peaceful democracy forged from the ground-level up, or face prosecution for your litany of crimes.
At the very least, Thailand must cut off all forms of financial and military support and make it clear that if Min Aung Hlaing continues with his crimes, this visit to Bangkok will be his one and only. Failure to do this will make the Kingdom of Thailand complicit with Myanmar’s criminal tyranny.
This article was originally published in UCA News.