`ASEAN's moves on Suu Kyi's detention will depend on RI'

`ASEAN's moves on Suu Kyi's detention will depend on RI'

Agencies, Langkawi, Malaysia/Yangon

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is waiting for incoming head Indonesia to propose further action to pressure Myanmar to release detained prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the organization's secretary general said on Thursday.

But Indonesia said it would not rush into making new suggestions on the issue and would not act without the backing of the 10-member grouping.

ASEAN, which has a core policy of not interfering in domestic issues of member countries, last month took the unprecedented step of urging Myanmar's military junta to release Suu Kyi, who was detained on May 30 after clashes between her supporters and progovernment demonstrators in northern Myanmar.

The statement came amid rising international condemnation of Suu Kyi's detention, which has escalated further with moves by the United States, the European Union and Britain to impose sanctions, and Japan's decision to suspend aid.

The junta says Suu Kyi is being held for her protection, but critics claim her detention is part of a crackdown on the opposition by the ruling generals and a retreat from their promise to pursue democratic reforms.

Speaking while attending an ASEAN energy ministers meeting in Malaysia, ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong said it was waiting for Indonesia to take the lead on the issue of Suu Kyi's detention.

"Indonesia is chairing the ASEAN committee this year," Ong said. "We'll have to wait for Indonesia to take the lead."

Indonesian foreign ministry's spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Jakarta accepted the responsibility of leading ASEAN's stand on the issue, but stressed the country needed the organization's support.

"The chair cannot act on its own," Natalegawa said. "We don't want to rush for the sake of being seen of doing things that we know will not be effective," he said.

Natalegawa said Indonesia was following up a proposal for ASEAN to send a delegation to Myanmar, also known as Burma, a proposal first made at last month's ASEAN leaders' meeting in Cambodia.

But sanctions are not an option being considered, he said.

In another development, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday it was optimistic Myanmar's military rulers would allow it to meet detained Suu Kyi.

Michel Ducreaux, the ICRC's representative in Myanmar, told Reuters he had heard a rumor Suu Kyi had been moved from the colonial era Insein prison on Yangon's northern outskirts to a "more appropriate" location but could not confirm it.

"We are still trying to get access and I think we have good prospects and I hope it will happen," Ducreaux said.

Ducreaux said an ICRC team had returned to Yangon on Wednesday after going to central Myanmar to visit 30 opposition leaders detained along with Suu Kyi on May 30 following a clash between her supporters and members of a projunta group.

He declined to comment on the condition of the detainees.

"We have confidential recommendations to hand to the government. We talked to the detainees and saw the prison conditions there." Ducreaux said the ICRC was proposing to pay for families to travel to central Myanmar to see the detainees.

International anger with the junta and concerns about Suu Kyi's welfare have intensified since her detention, with the United States and the European Union threatening harsher sanctions and key donor Japan suspending new aid.