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