Encourage reform in Myanmar: KL

Encourage reform in Myanmar: KL

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysia is developing into a broker in talks Myanmar's military government and the opposition and is urging other Southeast Asian nations to step up economic aid to encourage the generals to embrace democracy.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said that Malaysia would try to build on progress made during a recent visit by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to end decades of isolation for Myanmar by encouraging political reform through economic development.

"We believe that Myanmar would change but this change would only be brought about through economic development," Syed Hamid said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

"When people are more conscious, more aware, more affluent, then they will demand more freedom, more democracy."

Mahathir made an unofficial visit to Myanmar, also known as Burma, in January and met with Senior Gen. Than Shwe, chairman of the ruling State Peace and Development Council. The trip coincided with a UN mission to Myanmar led by special envoy Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat.

After his visit, Razali revealed that junta leaders had been holding reconciliation talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a potential breakthrough in a decade-old impasse.

Syed Hamid said Mahathir had made Razali's mission easier by asking Myanmar's rulers to give the UN special envoy, "whatever assistance he needed."

Mahathir had developed a special relationship with members of Myanmar's ruling council by encouraging democracy without criticizing the regime, Syed Hamid said.

"The prime minister is not seen as dictative," Syed Hamid said. "He consults and discusses and they feel he is discussing with them. That enables the prime minister to make his views and recommendations on things to do, but at the end of day the choice is with Myanmar."

Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power. She spent has spent the past 12 years under house arrest or other restrictions. The repression has drawn much international criticism of the military.

The military has ruled since 1962. Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung San, came to prominence during massive street protests against military rule in 1988, which were crushed in bloodshed. She won the Nobel Peace Price in 1991 and has long insisted that the election results be respected.

She has great support in the West, but the military views her as a traitor for supporting economic sanctions against the country, already one of the poorest in Asia, as a tool to force democratic change.

Syed Hamid said Myanmar's generals had shown their willingness to accept democracy, but that they must be allowed to make the changes at their own pace.

They have made the same argument for years. Myanmar-watchers are uncertain whether the talks represent a breakthrough and will lead to a political settlement or are simply a bid by the generals to play for time.

"Nobody should dictate to Myanmar on the type and time that they should become democratic," Syed Hamid said. "Myanmar leaders are quite willing to listen and discuss, but they do not want to be put in a box."

Syed Hamid said countries within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should help Myanmar build its fragile economy. With Mahathir's strong support, ASEAN made Myanmar a member in 1997 in the expectation that doing so would soften the regime. There was no quick impact.

Now, leading ASEAN member Thailand is engaged in border skirmishes with Myanmar and accuses the regime of helping traffic drugs into Thailand.

Syed Hamid said that Malaysia, already one of the largest investors in Myanmar, would send several more missions there this year, "to see what they need in terms of economic development," he said.

Syed Hamid urged both Myanmar's rulers and Suu Kyi's side to continue discussions, adding that Malaysia would offer any assistance it could.

"It is our responsibility to see a fellow ASEAN country grow like any other ASEAN country and not be isolated," the minister said.

ASEAN comprises Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, Phillipines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.