'ASEAN membership to change Myanmar'

'ASEAN membership to change Myanmar'

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that Myanmar's early entry into ASEAN would be a more constructive way of speeding up economic and political changes there.

"If we bring Myanmar into the ASEAN fold, there will be things that will rub off on them and they will be more willing to change their economic and political system," he told a gathering organized by the Harvard Clubs of Asia.

He was responding to a question on why Malaysia had been so supportive of the Myanmarese authoritarian regime, which has been widely accused of gross violations of human rights.

"We in ASEAN approach things in a different way, we persuade and do not resort to arm-twisting people," Mahathir said, taking a swipe at the United States for calling on countries in the region to impose sanctions on Myanmar.

Mahathir, who is still hosting Myanmarese junta leader Than Shwe, on Wednesday said that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had nothing to fear from the United States if it accepted Myanmar as a member.

Mahathir even wanted to see Myanmar become an ASEAN member by next year to quicken the pace of change.

He told members of the Harvard Clubs that he believed ASEAN's policy of "constructive engagement" towards Myanmar, which he admitted had been viewed cynically by the West, had paid off handsomely.

"Myanmar has changed now. There was a time it was isolationists and there was total anarchy and people could not walk in the streets," Mahathir said.

Mahathir said the situation in Myanmar had improved although he agreed that the Burmese government was not "totally benign."

"Myanmar is more open and more prosperous now and there is evidence that their people are now much more free to move around, although not free in the sense of (democratic standards) from the viewpoint of the West, but free to have a better life," Mahathir said.

"So we can see this constructive engagement policy has paid off," he asserted.

He said it was more effective to use another developing country that had experienced progress, like Malaysia, to influence improvements, "as (Myanmar) can use Malaysia as a model for change."