Lawmakers urge ASEAN leaders to get tough with Myanmar

Lawmakers urge ASEAN leaders to get tough with Myanmar

Sean Yoong, Associated Press/Kuala Lumpur

Southeast Asian lawmakers urged their governments on Friday to
stop being polite to Myanmar at an upcoming regional summit and
end a policy of not meddling in the military-ruled government's
internal affairs.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
will lose its credibility if Myanmar's junta remains slow to
implement real democratic reforms and release political
prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said
regional parliamentarians opening a meeting in Kuala Lumpur to
discuss how to improve the situation in Myanmar.

"ASEAN governments need to seriously review the relevance of
the so-called noninterference principle," said Zaid Ibrahim, a
Malaysian government legislator and chairman of the ASEAN Inter-
Parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar, a group not
affiliated with ASEAN.

"We should not be willing to politely ignore the misbehavior
of a neighbor when the consequences are interfering with our own
internal and regional stability," he said.

Some 30 lawmakers from Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand were attending the two-day
conference in Kuala Lumpur, which will also host ASEAN's annual
leaders' summit on Dec. 12 to Dec. 14.

ASEAN nations typically follow a policy of noninterference in
each other's domestic affairs, and ASEAN has long said that
persuasion -- not sanctions -- is the best way to deal with
Myanmar's regime.

Tint Swe, a member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy,
said ASEAN could send a signal to Myanmar by openly voicing
support for recent U.S. efforts to put Myanmar on the UN Security
Council's agenda for the first time because of its human rights
abuses.

"ASEAN's constructive engagement policy with Myanmar will not
show results," Tint Swe said. "It is time for the leaders of
ASEAN countries to speak up now. Without the support of ASEAN,
the regime (in Myanmar) will be isolated."

Washington says Myanmar warrants council action because of the
potential destabilization from its international narcotics
trafficking, human rights practices, and internal repression
which has led many of its people to flee the country.

Nazri Aziz, Malaysia's minister for parliamentary affairs,
said ASEAN leaders are "tied to diplomatic rules" that restrict
their ability to pressure Myanmar's government.

But speaking in his personal capacity as a parliamentarian,
Nazri said the junta's disregard for human rights "reminds us of
the days of Hitler and Stalin."

"Would you like to do business with governments belonging to
Hitler and Stalin?" Nazri said. "We cannot be thinking just about
business, while basic human rights are being abused everyday. I
don't think I would want to do business with the devil."

The current junta came to power in Myanmar in 1988 after
crushing a pro-democracy uprising. It called a 1990 general
election but refused to hand over power after Suu Kyi's party
won.