Despite frustrations, ASEAN defends junta

Despite frustrations, ASEAN defends junta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite the deep disappointment and frustration by most of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members over the
stubborn rejections by the Myanmar junta to release opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the regional grouping is publicly
backing Myanmar in the face of European pressure.

ASEAN spokespeople have tried hard to play down the European
Union's threat to cancel the next biennial Asia-Europe summit in
October in Hanoi unless ASEAN drops its demand to include Myanmar
at the summit.

ASEAN insisted that all of its partners agreed to accept all
three of the newest ASEAN members -- Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar
-- as participants at the summit. The EU has stated that it would
not come if Myanmar is included -- unless the Suu Kyi issue is
resolved by then -- and it has canceled two earlier ministerial
meetings with Asian partners. The EU also has a visa ban in place
against Myanmar.

"I think everyone must be able to understand that in ASEAN we
would like to see that each ASEAN country move according to its
own pace and comfort level to see that we move toward democracy,"
Malaysian foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Tuesday.

Marty Natalegawa, the foreign ministry's director-general for
ASEAN cooperation, meanwhile said, "The ball is very much in the
European Union's court, in the sense that they have, in a way,
put themselves in this situation by placing the Myanmar issue
higher than anything else, more than the benefit of Asia-Europe
cooperation."

According to Marty, who is also the Indonesian foreign
ministry spokesman, ASEAN and the EU will discuss the issue on
the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on Friday.

Marty added that the two sides were driven by the same
concern over the democratization process in Myanmar.

"It's not our belief that we should be trying to outdo one
another in showing who is the most upset and who is the most
disturbed by the developments in Myanmar, but this is not a forum
to try to compete and outdo one another."

Myanmar foreign minister U Win Aung did not say anything
groundbreaking, but insisted that Suu Kyi was not in a prison.

"I cannot say when it (democratization) will be finished, but
we are doing it," he said after a meeting with his Indonesian
counterpart Hassan Wirayuda on Tuesday.

He also confirmed that Suu Kyi was in good condition.

"She is one individual, she has her own freedom," he said. "We
are not locking her up, she is at her home," he added.

Marty said that ASEAN was expected to issue its stance on
Myanmar by Wednesday, after Win Aung briefs other ministers on
the Suu Kyi issue.

"ASEAN's stance is still very much being worked on." he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will seek action on
Myanmar from the Southeast Asian grouping during the ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF) meeting on Friday, a U.S. official said.

"What he is going to do is to urge more action by ASEAN in
believing that we, in the United States, have taken a particular
position on sanctions," Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner
told Agence France-Presse in Washington.

Craner did not say whether the United States would propose any
specific action.