ASEAN leaders held a succession of meetings with some of Asia's

ASEAN leaders held a succession of meetings with some of Asia's
top leaders in Vientiane on Tuesday, the substance of which were
overshadowed by alarm over the grouping's neglect of continued
rights repressions by fellow member Myanmar.

It was a cheerless way to end what had been a highly
productive and historic two-day annual summit. But the stonewall
response of most high-ranking ASEAN officials towards questions
on Myanmar seemed to ignore the group's written commitment to
creating a "community of caring societies."

The Myanmar issue emerged on the sidelines of the meeting late
on Monday when news trickled through that Yangon had extended the
house arrest of Southeast Asia's most famous political activist,
Aung San Suu Kyi.

Despite international criticism, Indonesia and the eight other
ASEAN member states, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have strongly stuck
by Myanmar.

When ASEAN leaders met last year in Bali they issued a call
for Myanmar to speed up the democratization process and release
Suu Kyi. They had pinned much hope that Yangon would commit to
the "road-map of democracy" as announced by the ruling State
Peace and Development Council.

However, the issue was completely left off the agenda when the
10 ASEAN leaders held a one-hour private session on Monday and,
according to some officials, the leaders had not been informed
about the latest turn of events.

When questioned after a bilateral meeting with Thailand Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Tuesday morning, newly appointed
Myanmar Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Soe Win, claimed he was unaware
of the house arrest extension.

Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty
Natalegawa confirmed officials had been informed of the extension
but said they had "yet to hear officially" about the news.

"If it is confirmed, certainly it appears to be inconsistent
with the publicly expressed commitment to revoke restrictions on
Madam Suu Kyi, which was stated at (previous) ASEAN Ministerial
Meetings in Jakarta, Phnom Penh and the Bali Summit," Marty said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was due to meet with Soe Win
late on Tuesday night, he said.

However, Marty revealed senior officials in the corridors of
the summit had informally discussed the matter and how they would
potentially respond.

"The term we have in mind (regarding the response) is
consternation", he said.

Soe Win did brief leaders at Monday's informal dinner on
developments of the so-called road-map, however, not apparently
about Suu Kyi's extended detention.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said Soe Win had
given assurances to his counterparts in ASEAN about evolution of
democracy in Myanmar. "He informed us that the National
Convention will meet again sometime early next year, and after
that he would proceed to the next step, which is the drafting of
the Constitution. After that, the next step is elections."

A potentially embarrassing situation could emerge if Yangon
does not make some political progress before it is due to host
the ASEAN Summit in 2006.

"We hope that the momentum of changes that have to be put in
place will go progressively forward and not stall at any stage,"
Badawi said.

Badawi, like other leaders, was earlier unabashed in calling
Soe Win part of the "fraternity" of ASEAN leaders. "Whoever comes
to the ASEAN Summit as a legitimate participant will enjoy the
fraternity that we have," he said.

Such is the aplomb and sense of fraternity, that ASEAN leaders
have. However, observers say the Myanmar issue could end up
eclipsing the progress made on trade and summits with the leaders
of Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand on
Tuesday.

BOX:

Major documents adopted at second day of ASEAN Summit

-ASEAN-Japan Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat
Terrorism.
-Plan of Action to Implement the Joint Declaration on ASEAN-China
Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity.
-Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Cooperation Partnership
between ASEAN and the Republic of Korea.
- ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared
Prosperity.
- Joint Declaration of the Leaders at ASEAN-Australia/New Zealand
Commemorative Summit