Alatas unsure of meeting with Suu Kyi

Alatas unsure of meeting with Suu Kyi

Aung Hla Tun, Reuters, Yangon

Indonesian special envoy Ali Alatas went into meetings with Myanmar's military government on Monday sounding less certain that he would meet detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she recovered from surgery.

Alatas, whose country is the current chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), one of the few groups willing to have Myanmar as a member, had said on arrival in Yangon on Sunday he expected to meet Suu Kyi, detained more than three months ago.

But on Monday, the former Indonesian foreign minister said it was up to the Myanmar government whether he would see the woman whose cause he apparently came to plead ahead of a summit of the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations in Bali next month.

"I requested to see Aung San Suu Kyi before I came here, but I heard that she underwent a major operation, so I leave this matter completely to the government," Alatas told Reuters.

Alatas was carrying a special message from Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri for new Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who is also military intelligence chief.

There has been no word on the contents of the message, but Indonesia has been vociferous -- unusually so in an organization which avoids festering antagonisms by shunning comments on each other's affairs -- in demanding Suu Kyi be released.

That reflects an uneasiness at holding the summit with Myanmar present while the 1991 Nobel peace prize laureate, held since a May clash between her supporters and members of a progovernment group, was still detained.

There was no comment from either side on the meeting between Alatas and Khin Nyunt and diplomats said the Indonesian envoy was scheduled to meet military leader Than Shwe on Tuesday.

Diplomats said Alatas, a veteran diplomat, might find it hard to persuade the military government to release Suu Kyi after it has ignored protests and sanctions for detaining her in a secret location.

"Of course he is a very clever and experienced diplomat and very friendly with the ruling military in Myanmar," said one Asian diplomat in Yangon.

"But if his mission is to negotiate the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, I think he's fighting a lost cause," he said. "We think the Myanmar government may not want to release Aung San Suu Kyi at the moment, unless they can reach a common ground with her about their political program."

Gen. Khin Nyunt became prime minister last month and announced a "road map" to democracy which would include negotiations with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy on a new constitution. He did not offer a timetable.

Nevertheless, there has been speculation that Suu Kyi's operation opens up a face-saving way out for the military government before the ASEAN summit on Oct. 7 and 8.

It provides an opportunity to allow Suu Kyi, 58, to return to her Yangon home to convalesce under house arrest, as she has been for more than half the last 14 years.

There has been no confirmation of the nature of the operation on Suu Kyi. Her doctor, Tin Myo Win, said only that she was fine and the surgery showed no signs of cancer. He said no visitors were allowed to prevent any chance of infection.

Hospital sources said Suu Kyi had her uterus removed.

Suu Kyi's last contact with the outside world was two weeks ago when the Red Cross found her in good health and eating after the United States said she was on a hunger strike.

Yangon says Suu Kyi is being held for her own protection and refuses to free her despite international outrage and tougher sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union.