Mega tells Yangon to clarify Suu Kyi's status
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Tripoli/Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri urged the Myanmar government on Saturday to make clear immediately its plans regarding prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- whether it plans to keep her under permanent house arrest or to release her.
Megawati, who also chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the plan must be spelled out immediately before the ASEAN Summit in Bali next month to prevent the issue from casting a shadow over the event.
"The Myanmar government should state specifically whether it will keep Suu Kyi under house arrest or free her immediately. The road map over whether it will free Suu Kyi should be made clear," said Megawati, who was speaking during a visit to Tripoli, where she held talks with Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffi.
Suu Kyi was put under house arrest by the Myanmar junta after she was discharged from hospital on Friday following an operation last week.
The move to place her under house arrest was considered a positive development. She spent four months in detention at a secret location prior to her being admitted to the hospital on Sept. 17.
Suu Kyi has been under house arrest twice before, the first time for six years from 1989 to 1995, while the second one ended in May 2002.
She was arrested again on May 30 this year, after a clash between her supporters and a pro-military junta gang.
Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said separately that Indonesia welcomed the new developments regarding Suu Kyi, and hoped that the Myanmar junta would release her before the ASEAN Summit.
"Her transfer back to her own home is not an insignificant development," said Marty as quoted by AFP.
The Indonesian government, which is concerned that the issue might disrupt the ASEAN Summit, sent former minister of foreign affairs Ali Alatas to Yangon last week to persuade Myanmar to release Suu Kyi.
After arriving in Jakarta, Alatas said that he had not received any commitments from the Myanmar junta regarding Suu Kyi's release, but he was told that the restrictions on her were temporary in nature.
Besides Indonesia, another prominent member of ASEAN, Thailand, also praised the recent developments in Myanmar, saying that the decision to place Suu Kyi under house arrest should not be ignored.
"Allowing Aung San Suu Kyi to return home is a step in the right direction for democracy, which involves listening to the opinion of various sides," said Thai government spokesman Sita Divari.
Meanwhile, the United States took a harder stance over the status of Suu Kyi, saying that the prodemocracy leader should have been freed without any conditions after the medical treatment.
"We remain concerned about her situation as well as those of other political prisoners currently under detention and we reiterate our calls for the junta to immediately lift all restrictions on her and to release all other political prisoners," U.S. deputy spokesman Adam Ereli was quoted as saying by AFP.
In Yangon, Suu Kyi spent the first day under house arrest in her famous lakeside villa accompanied by two doctors. The scene at the University Drive residence was quiet on Saturday, with military intelligence agents and barbed-wire barricades blocking the road off to non-residents.
"Only people with a pass are allowed into this area," a plainclothes security officer told Reuters here.