RI to pressure Myanmar to release Suu Kyi

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.