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.