Myanmar's PM braves critics at summit

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

Myanmar's ruling junta will send Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyut to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) annual summit, which begins on Tuesday, despite heavy diplomatic pressure from within and outside of ASEAN to free Aung San Suu Kyi.

As of Friday evening, the only concession the Myanmar generals had made as a response to the ASEAN leaders's demand for her release was to put the popular opposition leader under house arrest after being discharged from the hospital last week.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed earlier pointed out the possibility of ousting Myanmar from ASEAN if the junta continued its extrajudicial detention of the daughter of Myanmar's first post-independence leader Aung San.

Unlike his previously harsh stance on Suu Kyi's release, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda on Friday insisted that although the military was refusing to release Suu Kyi, it "had made significant progress" in dealing with her as well as strides toward democratic development.

The minister also insisted that Khin Nyut's presence in Bali had no relation at all with Suu Kyi's status, although he also conceded there could be some negative fallout if they did not release Suu Kyi before Tuesday.

"As ASEAN chairman, we are of the opinion that Myanmar has made progressive steps, when Myanmar announced its 'Road Map to Democracy and Reconciliation' and allowed Suu Kyi to return home," Hassan said after his arrival in Bali.

President Megawati's special envoy, former foreign minister Ali Alatas recently returned from Yangon empty but failed to convince the junta to free Myanmar's democracy icon or even to meet with Suu Kyi.

Minister Hassan last month visited Yangon to convey the message from the other ASEAN foreign ministers about their concern over the Suu Kyi issue. At that time the Indonesian government was optimistic that the junta would eventually free her before the Bali summit began.

"It was an unfortunate coincidence that when on Sept. 21 Madame Suu Kyi was hospitalized, Pak Alatas could not meet with her," the minister said when asked why Alatas had no access to Suu Kyi while UN Special Envoy Razali Ismail was allowed to meet with her a few days ago.

Hassan seemed to rationalize the otherwise negative impact of house arrest for Suu Kyi, essentially arguing that because of her health problems, she actually needed to stay longer at home in order to recover.

Hassan did not rule out the possibility that the ASEAN leaders would discuss Suu Kyi's status during their summit on Tuesday although it is not part of the official agenda.

In the meeting of the ASEAN leaders with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Indian Prime Minister Atal Beehari Vajpayee, the issue will likely emerge too.

Japan has threatened to cut financial assistance to the impoverished country if the military insisted on keeping Suu Kyi locked up.

Meanwhile, Hassan added that he was confident that the summit would fully endorse Indonesia's proposal for the establishment of an ASEAN Security Community. And when the leaders meet again in Laos next year they should be able to adopt a concrete action plan to implement such a security arrangement.

According to the minister it was not the time for ASEAN to focus not only on economic issues, but also political and security issues, which have been largely neglected at least since 1997 when the financial crisis hit the region.

Indonesia, Hassan continued, strongly believed in a comprehensive security cooperation that would enable the regional grouping to settle regional problems more effectively without becoming a military pact.

He further expressed confidence that the security community would finally bring Indonesia back to its rightful place as the leader of the regional grouping, the position that the country held for more than 20 years during the tenure of former president Soeharto.

"We are aiming not just to chair ASEAN during the one-year presidency, but also to lead the grouping in entering this new historical period after the upcoming Summit," the minister remarked.