World

Human Rights in South East Asia: what a farce!

by gerrypopplestone | March 24, 2009 at 08:25 pm

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"Some Asean member states preferred a body which is less intrusive because they believe that Western countries and NGOs might manipulate it to interfere"....George Yeo, Singapore Foreign Minister, speaking yeserday.

According to today's Bangkok Post, the ten Asean countries are expected to reach a "political compromise" on the powers and functions of their new regional human rights body. Nowpublic's own undercover reporter has impecable connections with the body. This is what went on at their meeting yesterday. We need to be seen to do something about human rights. "Steady on, mate; we can't move too quickly. This is Singapore. We do things slowly". How about releasing Dawn Aung San Suu Kyi? "Look, I know the UN keeps pushing us to act constitutionally. But all hell would break if Her was released. Stability must be maintained". Would it be feasable to release your 2,100 political prisoners? "We already released 24 of the bas...ds last February. What more do you want?" So how about doing something in Thailand? "Our investigations of all our serious cases of alleged abuse are ongoing". How about those kids in the South that the soldiers suffocated? You've got the videos. "Unfortunately the videos don't indicate exactly who initiated the abuse". How about that case in Khlong Toei where the thugs beat up traders this week? "We've suspended Pol. Col. Somchai Patachara-intoh for 15 days on full pay for failing to report the violent incident". Let's get a high profile case in Laos sorted then. How about those senior government officials who criticised your policies? Set them free after we investigate. "Sadly,one of them died in 1998". So how about those Hmong refugees that the army raped and videoed? "That case was fully investigated and the video was found to be a fabrication". How about some action in Vietnam? People even accuse the government of selling VN women as brides to your Taiwanese business contacts. "We can't afford to lose those exports: they are classified as steady earners". Then how about your Doi Moi reforms tackling the beatings in prison, or the forced relocations. People say you want to exterminate the Hmong people. "The Hmong deserve to be punished for what they did during the War. And we don't beat up prisoners: we just restrain them" What about Malaysia ? You could free the journalist, Raja Petra Lamarudin of Malaysia today. "Never: he knows too much". So how about the Hindu Rights Activists charged after a peaceful demonstration in 2007? "Are the five still in detention? We're not sure we can find them". So it's maybe down to Singapore? "As the chair of this meeting, Singapore has immunity for this session". Then that leaves Cambodia: what can you offer? "We could advance the issue of ASEAN human rights quite nicely for this year. We just issue a communique congratulating the International Tribunal for its successful start on the Khmer Rouge cases". Good idea: we could hold up the Tribunal as a model for ASEAN to aspire to, given enough time. And we can always talk about Asian values and non-interference - that's usually good for a laugh! Oops! Sorry I included Japan as part of ASEAN in my previous draft. I'm going off my rocker.