Myanmar may exhaust ASEAN's patience

Myanmar may exhaust ASEAN's patience

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Myanmar's governing generals must move towards political pluralism or risk exhausting the patience of ASEAN and others investing in the country, Singapore's leading newspaper said yesterday.

If Myanmar's government cannot show results in current constitutional maneuvers, "ASEAN will feel under increasing pressure...to reassess its policy of constructive engagement, to say nothing of deferring membership for Burma (Myanmar)," the Straits Times said in an editorial.

Myanmar has applied to be a member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) by July next year.

ASEAN has pursued a policy of constructive engagement towards Myanmar, under which trade and investment is encouraged as a means of bringing reforms.

The Straits Times editorial defended constructive engagement as preferable to sanctions and diplomatic isolation.

But the paper warned: "It was never intended for constructive engagement to be an infinite process. That would be carte blanche for the generals to perpetuate their hold on power without reference to the people."

Recent remarks by Philippine President Fidel Ramos that ASEAN might re-examine its policy "is the clearest indication so far that patience is wearing thin", the editorial said.

Myanmar's government must reciprocate for improvements brought by ASEAN and Western investment "by moving more purposefully to engender political pluralism," the Straits Times said.

It said opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was wrong to take her National League for Democracy (NLD) out of the country's national constitutional convention.

But a way has to be found to bring the NLD back into the constitutional process as "its huge 1990 election win demands that", the newspaper said.

ASEAN groups Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.