ASEAN should cajole Myanmar on democratic reforms, UN envoy says
ASEAN should cajole Myanmar on democratic reforms, UN envoy says
Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur
The United Nations's (UN) special envoy on Myanmar said on Tuesday he has little confidence that detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be released by late November, and urged Southeast Asian countries to push the country's military junta harder to reform.
Razali Ismail, a former Malaysian diplomat, met Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung last week on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Myanmar joined in 1997.
"He said Suu Kyi would be released, but he didn't say when," Razali told reporters. "There are no indications at all. We have to push the envelope more and more."
Asked if he was confident that Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, would be released by the time ASEAN leaders hold their annual summit in late November in Laos, Razali said: "I am not so sure, I don't think so."
ASEAN has come under increasing pressure to do more to secure Suu Kyi's release from house arrest after more than a year of detention, and to speed up Myanmar's promised democratic reforms.
The European Union has threatened to scuttle a meeting of European and Asian leaders scheduled for October if ASEAN insists that Myanmar take part, and the standoff over Suu Kyi has drawn criticism of the 10-member grouping from other economic partners.
ASEAN argues that its core policy of non-interference in members' internal affairs precludes it from chastising Myanmar's junta, and that constructive engagement is more effective than sanctions in bringing about reform.
At their meeting last week in Indonesia, ASEAN foreign ministers issued a relatively weak statement on Myanmar, urging a smooth transition to democracy without referring specifically to Suu Kyi.
Razali said ASEAN should take a tougher line against Myanmar, also known as Burma.
"ASEAN should talk more, persuade or even cajole the government," Razali said. "ASEAN should also talk to the man in charge in Myanmar, the senior general, in all ways possible."
Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt, who took office last August, is the sponsor of a "roadmap" that is supposed to pave the way for elections at an unspecified date. But Senior Gen. Than Shwe is considered the country's real powerbroker.
Razali, who has spent nearly four years trying to break the political impasse in Myanmar, said the dispute with the EU showed that the problem of Myanmar was affecting Southeast Asian countries' wider relations.
"You can see the continuing problems of Myanmar have begun to have more and more impact on the business of ASEAN and the business of the EU," he said.
Myanmar's military took power in 1988 after crushing massive pro-democracy street demonstrations, but refused to hand power to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party after it won 1990 general elections.
The junta is holding a national convention to draft a constitution that would allow a return to civilian rule. But no timeline has been set, and Suu Kyi's party is boycotting the process because of her continued detention.