RI, Thailand hint Myanmar may decide over ASEAN chair<\/p>\n
Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government expected Myanmar itself to resolve
\nthe deadlock over its taking of the rotating leadership of the
\nAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) soon, while
\nThailand foreign minister hinted that Myanmar could delay its
\nturn to avoid confrontation with the West.<\/p>\n
Marty Natalegawa, Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman said
\nhowever that Myanmar should also provide a rationale for its
\ndecision so it would not appear as if Myanmar was succumbing to
\ninternational pressure.<\/p>\n
\"Myanmar is likely to announce its decision during the ASEAN
\nMinisterial Meeting in Vientianne. We hope that every decision it
\nreaches is purely at Myanmar's own initiative, and not just
\nreactive to international demands,\" Marty told reporters in
\nJakarta on Friday.<\/p>\n
The annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and the ASEAN Regional
\nForum, will be held in Vientiane, Laos, from July 24 to July 29.<\/p>\n
Marty said that Western nations had acknowledged that ASEAN
\nmembers themselves had to deal with their neighbor Myanmar on
\nthis issue without outside intervention.<\/p>\n
\"We (ASEAN) want to give room to maneuver for Myanmar, which
\nshould be in line with ASEAN's collective interest,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Thailand's foreign minister Kantathi Supamongkon has said he
\nhas worked out a compromise to resolve the dispute over Myanmar
\ntaking the ASEAN chairmanship in 2006.<\/p>\n
The United States and the European Union have threatened to
\nboycott high-level meetings with the group if Myanmar takes over
\nnext year without making progress on human rights, including
\nfreeing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.<\/p>\n
Kantathi has given no concrete details of the plan but he told
\nreporters in Washington on Thursday that one way of avoiding a
\nshowdown might be for Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to
\npostpone its turn to chair ASEAN.<\/p>\n
\"Just as an example, if they were to postpone their
\nchairmanship then there would be a strong incentive for them to
\nalso complete the process of national reconciliation so that they
\ncould come back and participate actively in ASEAN,\" he was quoted
\nby Reuters as saying on Friday.<\/p>\n
Kantathi also said that Myanmar's military junta had sent
\nThailand and other nations \"a general signal that they would
\nconsider the interests of ASEAN above their own interests\".<\/p>\n
\"There is a willingness to discuss issues which previously had
\nbeen seen as internal,\" said the foreign minister, who is to meet
\nhis U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
\"It's not a black and white picture,\" he added. \"It's a
\npicture with technicolor, so we feel we should look at it in that
\nreal light.\"<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, in Strasbourg, France, the European
\nParliament called on the 25-nation European Union to state
\nofficially it would steer clear of key meetings \"should Burma
\nbecome the chair of ASEAN in 2006 without meeting any of the
\nminimum conditions\" on human rights and reform.<\/p>\n
Also in Washington, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert
\nZoellick said that Southeast Asian nations are frustrated and
\nembarrassed by Myanmar's deteriorating human rights record.<\/p>\n
\"I had a sense that every country in the region I spoke to is
\nfrustrated about the lack of progress on Myanmar's refusal to
\nembark on democratic reforms,\" he said late on Thursday after a
\nregional swing covering Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam,
\nThailand, Malaysia and Singapore.<\/p>\n
\"Some of them had a real problem in that Burma (Myanmar) is
\ntheir neighbor,\" Zoellick was quoted as saying by AFP on Friday.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a private sector forum in Washington on
\nreconstruction of economies ravaged by the Dec. 26 tsunami,
\nZoellick said he got an impression during his visit that
\nMalaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia were
\nprodding Myanmar to change in the interest of ASEAN.<\/p>\n
He also said that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
\nhad asked Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to try to
\ntalk to Myanmar's military chiefs on the need to move towards
\ndemocracy.<\/p>\n
Last year, Yudhoyono, an ex-military general, contested and
\nwon Indonesia's first direct presidential elections in the
\nhistory of the world's most populous Muslim nation.<\/p>",
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