Regarding the July 17 front-page AFP-JIJI article "Myanmar leader vows to free all political prisoners": It's ironic that history's biggest perpetrators of human rights violations — the erstwhile colonial powers — have today become the biggest advocates of human rights. This becomes all the more appalling when a James Cameron visits an erstwhile colony that bore the relentless exploitation of its natural resources and its culture over a century and was left in tatters and utter chaos, with the seeds of divide-and-rule left to germinate and thrive.
Now, as the nation tries to search for its lost identity after almost 60 years of strife, whom do we find pitching camp to act as advisers and restart the exploitation? It's all over the news. Myanmar should be careful about the partners it selects, if it still can.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.