SLORC shrugs off ASEAN plea for talks

SLORC shrugs off ASEAN plea for talks

BANGKOK (Agencies): Myanmar's military rulers have shrugged
off a request by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) that they hold talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, Thai officials said yesterday.

The ASEAN request was conveyed to leaders of the State Law and
Order Restoration Council (SLORC) last month by Malaysian Foreign
Minister Abdullah Badawi when he visited Yangon, a Thai official
told Reuters.

SLORC would not agree to the talks, he said. Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy party has never been allowed to
rule despite its landslide victory in a 1990 poll.

ASEAN foreign ministers held another meeting Tuesday while in
Hong Kong to witness the return of the former British colony to
China and agreed to reiterate their position, a Thai foreign
ministry source said.

ASEAN, which comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, will admit
Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar as new members later this month.

The decision was widely criticized because of human rights
violations in Myanmar and concerns about political instability in
Cambodia.

The Thai official said he thought SLORC would never hold talks
with Suu Kyi and would ignore anyone who asked it to. He also
predicted the SLORC would hold on to power for several more
years.

"ASEAN's effort to urge SLORC to hold talks with Aung San Suu
Kyi will be fruitless," the official said.

Myanmar's deputy prime minister Maung Maung Khin rejected
Thursday any dialog between SLORC and Suu Kyi during a visit to
Manila Thursday.

SLORC was formed after the military crushed a popular uprising
in September 1988, killing or jailing thousands of pro-democracy
supporters. The military government has ruled Myanmar with an
iron grip ever since.

"SLORC cited national security and economic development for
their reasons to continue in office for several more years. I
don't think there will be an election in Myanmar in the next 10
years," said an ASEAN official close to the Myanmar generals.

Suu Kyi has urged SLORC to recognize the results of the 1990
poll but the government has never responded. It also refuses to
answer her call for dialog which she has made regularly since
being released from six years of house arrest in July, 1995.

Suu Kyi, 52, who has been in poor health for the past few
months, was injured last month when she slipped down a staircase
at her lakeside Yangon residence.

Thailand's foreign minister, Prachuab Chaiyasan, made another
appeal for Myanmar to enter into dialog Suu Kyi.

"All of us have stated that we would like to see SLORC engage
in a dialog. At least, we would like them to acknowledge that
Myanmar's membership in ASEAN will create a positive direction in
the country," Prachuab was quoted by The Nation.