'Myanmar needs stability, reconciliation'

'Myanmar needs stability, reconciliation'

SINGAPORE (Agencies): Singapore has told Myanmar's ruling junta that political stability and reconciliation are necessary for Yangon to attract foreign investments and promote trade.

Premier Goh Chok Tong made the point during talks with the chairman of Myanmar's State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), Than Shwe, and during a dinner hosted for the visitor late Thursday.

"Besides a conducive economic environment, political stability and reconciliation are necessary for encouraging trade, investments and tourism," Goh was quoted telling the Myanmarese leader in a statement issued by the Singapore foreign ministry.

Than Shwe arrived here Thursday for a four-day official visit at the invitation of Premier Goh. It is his first to the city state since he became SLORC head in April 1992. He is also the prime minister of Burma, Myanmar's official name.

Than Shwe briefed Goh on political and economic developments in Myanmar during their talks, the statement said.

It did not specify whether the issue of Myanmarese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest since 1989, figured at the meeting.

Goh said at the dinner for Than Shwe that the opening of the Myanmarese economy to foreign investors and Yangon's steps to build a market economy would enable it to join the bandwagon of emerging Asian economies.

"If the momentum is sustained by constructive political developments and stable conditions, there will be increased international confidence in your country's investment climate," Goh told Than Shwe. "More trade, investments and tourism will follow."

Singapore and its colleagues in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand -- have rejected Western calls to isolate Yangon in a bid to force the junta to release Suu Kyi.

ASEAN's line is "constructive engagement" with Myanmar which it feels will produce better results than isolation.

Before his visit here, Than Shwe was in Indonesia for a four- day official visit -- his first to an ASEAN country.

Goh welcomed the steps taken by Myanmar to integrate with the regional community, adding that they would contribute to regional stability.

Than Shwe said in his dinner speech that his visit to Singapore was a "significant symbol of a concrete step forward" in bilateral relations.

He added that Myanmar was taking steps to invite more foreign investment and encourage local entrepreneurs.

Myanmar and Singapore signed an agreement Thursday to step up economic cooperation and trade, with a joint ministerial panel to be set up to coordinate bilateral projects initiated under the pact.

Singapore is a leading investor in Myanmar, with investments of more than S$400 million (US$285.7 million).

Meanwhile, Myanmarese military authorities released a leading pro-democracy politician a week after detaining him and several other elderly dissidents, sources close to his family said yesterday.

Kyi Maung, 74, a senior member of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), was arrested in Yangon last Friday soon after he met the British ambassador. He was released on Thursday, the sources said.

Four or five other elderly dissidents who were detained with him during a get-together at the home of Tha Hla, a former rector of Rangoon University, were also freed, said the sources, who asked not to be identified.

Diplomats said the detention of the dissidents last week was apparently an attempt by Myanmar's ruling military to prevent dissidents from meeting diplomats.

Kyi Maung was NLD spokesman until Aung San Suu Kyi and other top party members were arrested in mid-1989. He took over the leadership, carrying the party through the May, 1990, election in which the NLD won more than 80 percent of the seats.