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.