ASEAN MPs to send mission to Myanmar<\/p>\n
Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Legislators from seven Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN) grouped in the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus (IPC)
\nwill send a fact-finding team to Myanmar to meet government
\nofficials and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.<\/p>\n
Lim Kit Siang, a member of the caucus and Malaysian
\nparliamentary opposition leader, said that the group would convey
\nthe legislators' aspirations for democratization in the country,
\nto free Suu Kyi from house arrest and to encourage a tripartite
\ndialog between the junta, the National League for Democracy (Suu
\nKyi's party) and the ethnic groups.<\/p>\n
Lim, a parliamentarian from opposition Democratic Action
\nParty, said that the caucus' president, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, would
\nwrite to the Myanmar foreign affairs ministry to inform them of
\nthe visit. Zaid Ibrahim is a Malaysian legislator from the ruling
\nUMNO party.<\/p>\n
Myanmar will take over ASEAN's rotational chairmanship in
\n2006.<\/p>\n
"We will meet the chairman of SPDC (the State Peace and
\nDevelopment Council), the foreign minister, Aung San Suu Kyi, the
\nrepresentatives of the pro-democracy forces and ethnic groups
\nsome time in March.<\/p>\n
"We also agreed that unless there is improvement in the
\npolitical situation in Burma (the former name of Myanmar), with
\nmeaningful democratization and improvement in national
\nreconciliation, for example a meaningful National Convention,
\nBurma is not qualified to be chairman of ASEAN in 2006 and this
\nmust be the concern of all ASEAN parliamentarians," Lim told The
\nJakarta Post after the caucus meeting here on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
National Convention is one of seven measures proposed in the
\nMyanmar's road map for democracy by the former prime minister
\nKhin Nyunt after international pressure for democratization and
\nSuu Kyi's release.<\/p>\n
But in a government shake-up in October, Khin Nyunt was
\ndismissed and detained on a corruption charge. The military junta
\nannounced last November that the convention would be held this
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
The May convention was canceled because the NLD and two other
\npolitical parties refused to attend the convention unless Suu Kyi
\nwas freed. The junta extended Suu Kyi's detention in October.<\/p>\n
ASEAN Parliamentary Caucus is a loose grouping of legislators
\nfrom Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
\nSingapore and Thailand. The first informal meeting that served as
\nan embryo to this caucus was held in Kuala Lumpur last November.<\/p>\n
Lim expressed hope that the caucus would develop into various
\nworking groups aside from Myanmar, such as for good governance or
\nhuman rights issues.<\/p>\n
During the two-day meeting here, which ended on Wednesday, the
\nASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus formalized the Indonesian
\nparliamentary caucus. Among Indonesian legislators who are
\nmembers of the ASEAN Caucus are Nursyahbani Katjasungkana of the
\nNational Awakening Party and Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate
\nParty.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Ade Nasution, the vice chairman of the Committee for
\nInter-Parliamentary Cooperation in Indonesia's House of
\nRepresentatives, said the caucus was for individual legislators
\nwho shared the same concerns, and was not officially endorsed by
\nthe House.<\/p>\n
"Myanmar is a member of ASEAN, and we can't really intervene
\nin other countries' affairs," he said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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