House ups the ante on Myanmar over ASEAN

House ups the ante on Myanmar over ASEAN

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives is urging the government to oppose
Myanmar's leadership of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) next year, and to boycott ASEAN forums under its
leadership, unless the military junta immediately puts into place
democratic reforms.

A total of 35 out of 48 members of House Commission I for
foreign affairs signed a petition to push the government to step
up pressure, along with other ASEAN members, on Myanmar not to
take its turn to lead the regional association.

The petition was handed to Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda during a hearing with Commission I here on Wednesday.

By tradition, the chairmanship of the 10-member ASEAN is
rotated in alphabetical order, and after Malaysia this year, it
is Myanmar's turn next year.

"We also urge ASEAN members to tell Myanmar that its
membership could be frozen if it takes the lead spot but fails to
carry out reform measures," said legislator Djoko Susilo, who
heads the ASEAN inter-parliamentary caucus for democracy in
Myanmar.

Commenting on the demand, Hassan said that a meeting last
April of ASEAN foreign ministers in Cebu, the Philippines, agreed
to wait until July for Myanmar to decide whether or not it would
take the leadership.

"All of the nine foreign ministers tried to convince Myanmar
not to take the top spot, and I have a feeling that Myanmar will
bow to it and give the spot to the Philippines instead," he said.

If that was the case, Hassan said Myanmar would be allowed to
claim the leading spot anytime, without having to wait for its
turn to come around again, after making concrete efforts to carry
out reforms toward democracy and political reconciliation.

"ASEAN's stance is clear, actually. We welcome Myanmar's road
map to democracy, but also urge that the process involves all
groups there, including the National League for Democracy (NLD)
led by Aung San Suu Kyi," he explained.

Kyi, a staunch Myanmarese pro-democracy activist, has been
kept in custody for over a decade until now by the military
junta. Her NLD won the 1990 election and took over 80 percent of
the seats, but the military junta ignored the results despite the
fact that its party won only a meager 2 percent.

Hassan, however, refused to comment on what action the
regional grouping would take if Myanmar eventually decided to
take its turn during the next foreign ministers' forum in Laos in
July.

"That's hypothetical. Myanmar is also getting pressure from
the Western countries. They're aware of the situation and, more
than likely, they probably would skip its turn," he said.

Several Commission I members recently met with two Myanmarese
political activists, Daw San San and Khin Ohmar, who were
lobbying for harder pressure to oppose Myanmar's leadership of
ASEAN.

Legislator Marzuki Darusman said that ASEAN would have to take
harsher action -- but not intervention -- against Myanmar to
resolve its domestic issues that affect other ASEAN members.

"As we know, and (minister Hassan) acknowledges too, the
Myanmar issue has become a factor dividing ASEAN. Therefore,
immediate collective action is essential," he said.