RI to pressure Myanmar to release Suu Kyi

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia looks set to offer Myanmar the last chance to adequately respond to fellow Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) member countries' calls for the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi when President Megawati Soekarnoputri receives Yangon's special envoy here on Monday.

Jakarta said that as neighbors, ASEAN member countries had proposed a constructive solution to Myanmar, but they could not stop the international community from stepping in and isolating the country.

"The coming visit should not rehearse their previous statement. We expect them to answer the international demand," Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung arrived here on Sunday, but said there was no immediate schedule for the release of detained pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi.

"I can't see a timeframe right now," Win Aung said as quoted by Reuters shortly after arrival.

Win Aung will be heading for the two-day Asia-Africa Sub- Regional Organization Conference (AASROC) in Bandung, 200 kilometers southeast of Jakarta, which will be opened by Megawati on Tuesday.

"The release of Suu Kyi is the key point to defuse the situation, Myanmar should know that they cannot afford to continue with the issue, which has marked a setback in the region," Marty said.

"ASEAN has been conducting a very constructive approach compared to other communities and we expect a good outcome within the ASEAN framework."

Last week's Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Bali issued an unprecedented joint demand for the Nobel laureate's immediate release.

Indonesia, as the chair of ASEAN, has planned to dispatch special envoy Ali Alatas along with an ASEAN diplomatic delegation to Yangon to ask for the immediate release of Suu Kyi. The plan, however, will depend on the outcome of Win Aung's meeting with Megawati.

Most major countries such as Japan and the United States have threatened to impose sanctions against Myanmar should the military junta refuse to set Suu Kyi free as soon as possible.

So far ASEAN has remained in the stance that isolating Myanmar will not be an effective way to make Yangon listen to the world's demands.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had proposed that Myanmar be expelled from ASEAN should it remain stubborn.

Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra offered a "road map" for the release of Suu Kyi, but Myanmar's military government indicated on Saturday that it was reluctant to accept the Thai proposal.

"We heard about the road map from media reports but we are not informed about the details. Our belief is that solutions for internal issues must be sought internally," Brig. Gen. Than Tun, a senior official in the military intelligence said as quoted by Associated Press.

Win Aung will fly on to Thailand on July 31 after attending the AASROC meeting in Bandung.

Megawati so far has yet to make any public comment regarding the situation in Myanmar, although she and Suu Kyi once shared a common experience of becoming opposition leaders facing military governments.

Marty said that Indonesia's voice of encouragement should have more weight as the country shares the experience of transition to a more democratic government with Myanmar.

"We mean no harm, but there is no other option but releasing Suu Kyi and we will facilitate the democratization process in the country."

Statements out of Myanmar have been tough -- including announcing the arrests this weekend of some they accuse of plotting to blow up junta leaders.

"To sum up, nobody seems to know when or by who the ongoing political impasse in Myanmar will be solved," Myanmar expert Kyaw Yin Hlaing, assistant professor at the department of political science of the National University of Singapore, said in a speech at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore last week.