Mission to Myanmar 'should be credible'

Mission to Myanmar 'should be credible'

Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Friday that his planned trip to check the progress of democracy in military- ruled Myanmar must be credible.

Syed Hamid will represent the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the visit, which was announced amidst intense international pressure for the grouping to tackle the slow pace of democratic reform in fellow member Myanmar.

"I would like the visit to be successful, the outcome to be successful so that we, as ASEAN, will be able to speak convincingly and with credibility to the world at large," Syed Hamid told reporters.

ASEAN issued a statement at the close of its annual summit this week calling for reforms to speed up and for the release of prisoners, a reference to detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her political party.

Syed Hamid said Myanmar understood ASEAN's call for speedier reforms. He urged Yangon to cooperate in the visit to make it credible.

"Myanmar understood... that we wish to help Myanmar, that any problem in Myanmar we consider is also a problem within ASEAN, therefore as good friends we would like to see in whatever way we could help Myanmar," he said.

"And in order for us to be able to help Myanmar, Myanmar has to provide us with the necessary assistance in order for us to be able to tell their story with credibility."

Syed Hamid would not specify what his trip would entail, saying the details and date had yet to be worked out. But he signaled that caution would be needed in negotiating the visit with the secretive military junta.

"There is... high expectation on the visit and I think I must be very clear what I could see and what I could do before I make the next move," he said, adding he must balance ASEAN's interests with those of Yangon.

But Syed Hamid said he was clear about his mandate to check the pace of reform and he would be examining the situation in Myanmar in detail.

"I'm just not going to Myanmar to see Myanmar. I am going to Myanmar to carry the message of ASEAN, with the agreement of Myanmar, how the democratic process is taking shape in Myanmar," said the minister.

"They have given us some of the facts. We want to see what is happening on the ground." -- AFP