'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."