Asean leaders should have done more about Burma
United Nations special envoy to Burma Razali Ismail defends his involvement in a company which does business with the Burmese military government in this second and final part of an exclusive interview with malaysiakini .
Malaysiakini: Were you already involved with Iris Technologies before you became UN special envoy?
Razali:
I joined Iris nearly four years ago. About two and a half years ago, I became the UN envoy. Iris' interest in Myanmar (*formerly known as Burma) happened before I became the special envoy but it was a general interest. Then, it developed into something specific. I have never once spoken to the leaders in Myanmar about Iris.
Iris is a technology (company) that wins contracts by itself. Iris' technology is the most obvious one to have because this is the way how passports will go electronically. I have never at any moment felt that there was conflict of interest. Purists can say otherwise, as one journalist did. So I asked him if he wanted me to resign. Would everybody be happy if I resigned?
We seem to try to splash things up to so many parts. I have been in the US, I have been to the UK and Europe, and the connections between business and politics have always been there but you must be accountable. Here, in the context of accountability, I have done nothing at all. There is not an iota of conflict involved.
So you don't think it has affected your credibility?
No, I think the UN looked at it and thought there was nothing there. If they didn't like it, they could have stopped my contract. I would be quite happy not to be special envoy, I have other things to do in my life. I was sort of shanghaied to do this job. If they don't think that I am the right person to do it then they can always terminate the contract.
Are they happy with what you are doing now?
Well, every six months they come and say please do it for another six months. Basically while some people raised their eyebrows, nobody wanted me to actually to drop this. In fact, I got another contract recently, without asking.
Will this silence your critics?
No, it will not silence them. There are always people who want to be such purists. It is not so simple. Life is not so compartmentalised.
You are a very busy businessman in addition to your UN work. If the Myanmar parties and the UN want you to expand your role, would you have the time?
There are a lot of things I want to do. I want to do some environmental things. I want to do some farming, I want to grow trees. We should try to do forest plantation. We should not cut trees anymore. Down the road, say 20 years from now, we should cut trees only from plantations. We should already begin. It is already beginning in Sabah and Sarawak, and we should do it here in the peninsula.
I also want to do better with the Yayasan Salam (state-owned Salam Foundation) which wants to help in national integration and push the concept of active citizenship. So, this has already taken a lot of my time and I am beginning to feel like a fellow who is punched-drunk you know, running from pillar to post.
But Myanmar is like a magnet, it draws you in. It is not just the political things but also the people, the rights of people to have a chance to do better for themselves. And the personalities are very, very interesting so if I can play a role then I will do it.
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