When members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations decided last year to admit Burma to their organisation, the move was presented as the best means to bring about a rapprochement between the ruling junta and the National League for Democracy (NLD) of Aung San Suu Kyi. Yet still the opposing sides remain polarised. Growing tension in the country has so alarmed Bangkok that the Thai Government is warning that an outbreak of violence could hamper the fragile progress toward economic recovery. Aung San Suu Kyi's abortive journey to meet supporters in the north, after giving her 'minders' the slip, comes weeks after the military allowed the NLD to mark the anniversary of its 1990 election victory. But any softening of the junta's line ended when the NLD set an August deadline to reconvene the disbanded parliament. Since then, the state media have issued veiled death threats against her and insisted on the familiar theme that the people would rather have food than democracy. After the economic crisis, this argument has been undermined by the way in which a lack of democratic institutions has emerged as a real obstacle to prosperity. Like it or not, ASEAN members have to face this issue at their conference in Manila this month. After the events of the past year, the old policy of affecting not to notice what was going on in other member states is less and less tenable. The crisis has brought the region together. There must be a readiness to offer and accept comment from outside - and to judge if expectations have been met in the case of Burma.
