Malaysian PM conveys concerns to Myanmar leader

Malaysian PM conveys concerns to Myanmar leader

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad met the leader of Myanmar's military government yesterday
and conveyed concern over the situation in that country,
Malaysia's foreign minister said.

Mahathir met Senior Gen. Than Shwe, chairman of the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and Myanmar's prime
minister, ahead of a summit of Asian nations in the Malaysian
capital.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi told reporters the
general informed Mahathir of recent changes affecting the
government in Yangon.

"These changes are intended to give the government greater
capacity for development, increase the pace of development in
Myanmar," Abdullah said.

Last month the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC), which had ruled the country with an iron fist since
seizing power in 1988, was dissolved as part of a surprise
government change that led to the creation of the SPDC.

Abdullah said Mahathir expressed his views on the situation in
Myanmar to Than Shwe.

Malaysia backed down yesterday from its previous insistence
that Myanmar be allowed to attend an Asia-Europe summit in London
next year.

"It is not a region-to-region kind of meeting. It is not an
ASEAN-Europe meeting," Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
told a news conference. "There is therefore no automatic
membership especially for Myanmar."

But for meetings between the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations and the European Union, "our stand is very clear," he
said. "For this matter, all ASEAN members are involved."

"It has always been our principle not to interfere in the
internal affairs of other countries, but he (Mahathir) did
express the view,...this expression of concern about the Myanmar
situation (expressed) by other leaders with whom we have met,"
Abdullah said.

Than Shwe said in a statement after arriving in the Malaysian
capital on Saturday that his presence at the three-day summit
starting later yesterday showed Myanmar's commitment to work with
ASEAN in all activities.

Mahathir sparked a furor in September when he said ASEAN might
boycott next year's summit if Myanmar were barred.

Mahathir, who boycotted an Asia-Pacific summit in the United
States in 1993, said that any discrimination against Myanmar
would amount to discrimination against ASEAN.

But British officials ruled out Myanmar's attendance due to EU
sanctions which deny visas to officials from Burma, renamed
Myanmar by the junta which seized power in 1988.

Other ASEAN members had maintained that ASEAN membership did
not automatically qualify a country to join the Asia-Europe
summit because countries take part on an individual basis.

The Asia-Europe meeting in Bangkok last year grouped the 15
nations of the EU with 10 East Asian economies -- the seven ASEAN
nations at the time (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) plus China, South
Korea and Japan. Myanmar joined ASEAN along with Laos in July.

ASEAN admitted Myanmar in July despite protests from several
western countries and the European Union which cited the poor
human rights record of the Myanmar junta.

The Asian leaders were expected to discuss a planned summit
with the European Union set for next April in London, delegates
said.

A meeting set for last month between the EU and ASEAN member
states was postponed because of disagreement over Myanmar, which
has been criticized by the West for human rights abuses and for
curbing political activities of the opposition led by Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.