President Obama has followed through on his administration’s new policy of direct engagement with Burma by calling for the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. President Obama spoke at a meeting of Asian countries in Singapore on Nov. 16 that included Burma’s prime minister, General Thein Sein. President Obama is the first American president to attend a meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The group organized during the Vietnam War. Other American presidents have stayed away from the ASEAN meetings as part of U.S. sanctions against Burma.

The Obama administration announced the new policy of engagement with Burma’s military rulers earlier this month. The administration is continuing existing U.S. restrictions that prevent trade with the military dictatorship.

Junior Kacey Pelletier is a student representative to the U.S. Campaign for Burma. She cautiously welcomed the new engagement policy.

“We’ve had economic sanctions against Burma since 1989, the year I was born,” said Pelletier. “Limited restrictions haven’t worked.”

The week, before the ASEAN meeting, the military government permitted U.S. diplomats to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi in a hotel in Rangoon. It was the first time since 2003 that she had been seen outside her house or prison.

Burma’s military rulers have jailed Aung San Suu Kyi or held her under house arrest for 14 of the 20 years since her party won elections by a large majority in 1989. During those years, they changed the name of the country to Myanmar, moved the capital from Rangoon to Naypyidaw, and revised the constitution to solidify their power.

“Maybe more of a collective approach with the members of the ASEAN will help,” Pelletier said.” But I don’t support any action that legitimizes the military regime. Burma is as brutal as Sudan or South Africa under apartheid, even worse.”

Associate Professor of Political Science George Guo agrees with the new policy of engagement.

“Western powers can expect the same result from engagement that they got with China,” Guo said.

Assistant Professor of History Zhihong Chen too sees merit in the change in America’s Burma policy.

“It is, in general, a positive move, and the military government in Burma is showing positive steps toward reaching a concession,” Chen said. “Earlier, they announced they would release Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Chen said the military government is trying to centralize control in a complicated nation.

“Burma’s leaders must deal with democracy forces, more than 135 ethnic groups and local militias in defiant areas that demand more independence,” said Chen. “These constant conflicts have created many refugees like the ethnic Karens.”

Greensboro is home to a community of ethnic Karen refugees who have fled the military regime in their native country.

Many argue that changes in Burma are not only reliant on the United States, but on regional powers as well.

“China is propping up Burma,” said Assistant Professor Eric Mortensen. “The Burmese government isn’t fooling anyone, unlike China where the call for nationalism and stability has been successful. In Burma, that has fallen on deaf ears.”

Burma’s democracy forces include its Buddhist monks and Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party.

Monks leading peaceful protests in 2007 were jailed and beaten. Officials destroyed some Buddhist monasteries. Some monks have escaped Burma but many more are unaccounted for.

ASEAN released an official statement after the meeting in Singapore. It didn’t mention Aung San Suu Kyi or other political prisoners, as President Obama had wanted.

The ASEAN statement did call for, “national reconciliation and that the general elections to be held in Myanmar in 2010 must be conducted in a free, fair, inclusive and transparent manner in order to be credible to the international community”

Burma’s military rulers have insisted that the planned 2010 elections show they are moving toward democracy. They have not said that Aung San Suu Kyi can take part. A recently introduced law prevents anyone married to a foreigner from holding office. Suu Kyi’s late husband was British.

“The U.S. government may be hoping for some sort of power-sharing for the opposition party in Burma,” Mortensen said. “It’s always difficult to stomach talking to dictators but the alternatives haven’t worked.