RP foreign minister meets Myanmar's Suu Kyi
RP foreign minister meets Myanmar's Suu Kyi
BANGKOK (AP): Philippines Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon met with Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her Yangon home last week, a diplomat in Yangon said yesterday.
Siazon is the highest-ranking government official from a Southeast Asian nation ever to meet the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Access to Suu Kyi is strictly controlled by Myanmar's military government, which kept her under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 for her campaign to bring democracy to the country.
Siazon, who traveled to Myanmar with Philippine President Fidel Ramos and a delegation of government and business officials last week, met Suu Kyi for lunch at her lakeside home, shortly after Ramos had left for Laos.
Siazon was accompanied by Sen. Alberto Romulo.
Ramos had requested permission from Myanmar's military government to see Suu Kyi during his visit, but when the Myanmar government did not respond, he dropped the matter.
But Southeast Asian diplomats in Yangon confirmed that the meeting had taken place and said that although it was termed a "social visit", they viewed it as a positive development.
No details of the meeting were divulged and attempts to reach Suu Kyi yesterday were unsuccessful.
Myanmar was admitted this July to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) despite concerns over its poor human rights record and suppression of the democracy movement.
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Suu Kyi has frequently criticized ASEAN's policy of constructive engagement, which advocates persuading the Myanmar military to reform through increased business and diplomatic ties.
Suu Kyi said the policy was flawed because ASEAN was only engaging one side in Myanmar's civil conflict, namely the military. Suu Kyi's party won a 1990 election by a landslide, but the military refused to honor the results.
No other ASEAN leader or foreign minister has made any attempt to meet Suu Kyi since she rose to prominence in 1988 by leading the democracy movement.
Recently, some ASEAN politicians, such as Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, have spoken of a need to move beyond constructive engagement to constructive involvement or intervention.
Malaysia's Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urged Myanmar's generals to open a dialogue with Suu Kyi when he visited Yangon in August to confirm ASEAN membership on Myanmar.
The generals have refused to meet with Suu Kyi.