Myanmar may give up ASEAN chair: Singapore

Myanmar may give up ASEAN chair: Singapore

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

ASEAN members cannot force Myanmar to give up its turn as chairman next year but the country might do so voluntarily to uphold the group's interests, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said here on Friday.

Yeo, speaking to the Foreign Correspondents Association of Singapore, said further discussions on the issue were expected when foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet in Laos next month.

Officials and parliamentarians from some ASEAN members are afraid that military-ruled Myanmar will damage the group's image and international links if it becomes chairman after Malaysia under an alphabetical rotation system.

U.S. and European leaders are expected to boycott any meetings held in Myanmar between the grouping and its Western partners.

"Myanmar has told us, and Myanmar has told other countries in Southeast Asia, that it will not be selfish and that it will take into account the interests of ASEAN as a whole," Yeo said.

The other countries "took that to mean that Myanmar might withdraw on its own from assuming the chair," he added.

Yeo also confirmed on Friday that Singapore had misgivings about admitting Myanmar into ASEAN in 1997, but Malaysia and other members pressed for it.

"At the time when Myanmar and Laos and Cambodia were admitted to ASEAN, Singapore's position at the time was that it might be premature because the economies were still not sufficiently opened up," he said.

But other members of ASEAN felt strongly that they should complete the regional group's construction quickly so Singapore went along, he said.

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad "was one of those who supported it strongly" and "expressed some words of regret subsequently."

"But there's no point dwelling back on history. We work on the basis of where we are today," he said.

Yeo reiterated that when ASEAN foreign ministers met in the Philippine city of Cebu last April, "we took a very clear position that it would set a very bad precedent for ASEAN ... to take away the chairmanship from any member."

No ASEAN member has ever been pressured into relinquishing its leadership but Myanmar's human rights record, particularly the treatment of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters, has embarrassed its neighbors.

Holding the ASEAN chair means Myanmar will set the group's agenda and direction as well as host a series of meetings, including a summit and a high-level security forum involving the United States and European Union.