ASEAN MPs call for Myanmar junta ejection

ASEAN MPs call for Myanmar junta ejection

Reuters, Bangkok

A group of Southeast Asian politicians called on Friday for
Myanmar's military junta to be kicked out of the ASEAN regional
political bloc within a year unless it gets serious about
democratic reform.

"We cannot tolerate this any more," outspoken Thai senator
Kraisak Choonhavan -- an old friend of detained Myanmar
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- told a news conference. "We
need our respective governments in Asia to do more."

Claiming some of the credit for the junta's decision to skip
its turn as chairman of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations) in 2006, the MPs said the international community should
not ease the pressure on Yangon's generals.

Teresa Kok, secretary of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar
Caucus (AIPMC), said: "The AIPMC resolves to call for the
suspension of Myanmar from ASEAN if it fails to bring democratic
reforms in the country in the next 12 months."

They also backed a call from retired South African archbishop
Desmond Tutu and former Czech president Vaclav Havel -- both of
whom, like Suu Kyi, are Nobel Laureates -- to have Myanmar
referred to the United Nations Security Council.

"The deteriorating situation in Myanmar is affecting not only
those within the country, but people outside its borders as
well," AIPMC said in a statement.

"Quite apart from its truly disgraceful human rights record,
Myanmar's troubles, ranging from ethnic conflicts and refugee
outflows to drugs and the unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS, have
become a serious cause for concern for ASEAN and the
international community."

Myanmar, or Burma as it was called, has been under military
rule since 1962. The current junta, which seized power in 1988
and ignored a crushing defeat in 1990 elections, says it is
restoring civilian rule via a seven-step "road map to democracy".

Nearly all foreign officials consider the plan a sham,
especially while Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.

ASEAN admitted Myanmar in 1997 in the hope of teasing out
democratic reform. So far, that effort has failed and the
generals' pariah status has damaged the group's credibility.