Better late than never

Somewhat belatedly, the Australian government has announced the suspension of its Defence Cooperation Program with Myanmar, which included training for officers of the Tatmadaw in Australia.

Making the announcement on Sunday, Australian Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, said, “Australia has raised our grave concerns about the military coup in Myanmar and the escalating violence and rising death toll following the events of 1 February.”

“We condemn the use of lethal force or violence against civilians exercising their universal rights, including the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Senator Payne said Australia’s development programme would also be re-directed to the immediate humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable and poor, including the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.

“We will prioritise the most pressing humanitarian and emerging needs and seek to ensure our humanitarian engagement is with and through nongovernment organisations, not with government or government-related entities, as is currently the case in some parts of the program,” she said.

Well, better late than never, but it would have been better is she had announced the “cancellation” of the Defence Cooperation Program, not just its “suspension, because I have little doubt that General Min Aung Hlaing and the thugs of his Tatmadaw will change their ways and we will see many more innocent civilian deaths before this is over. DAVID BROWN