Southeast Asia presses Myanmar on reforms

Southeast Asia presses Myanmar on reforms

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

Southeast Asian foreign ministers turned up the pressure on
Myanmar on Friday, expressing frustration over the military
junta's unmet promises on rights and democracy that have
embarrassed regional leaders.

At a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), host Malaysia said Myanmar had been given a clear
message that it had to start backing up its words with actions.

"They talk about democracy. We want to see some movement that
will show they are really leading towards that," said Malaysian
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

"I don't think any single country in ASEAN does not feel
impatient or does not feel uncomfortable, because it does create
problems and difficulties for us," he said. "This has created
some embarrassment."

Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung
San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, and her National League
of Democracy (NLD) party has boycotted talks on what the regime
calls a "road map" to democracy.

The international community, including the United Nations,
European Union and United States, has dismissed the on-again off-
again talks, which the junta insists are intended to set up a
constitution, as a sham.

Syed Hamid said the criticism had hurt the credibility of the
10-nation ASEAN bloc, which decided to bypass the country in
rotating alphabetical order and hold its next summit in the
Philippines instead.

He said ASEAN could try to send a committee to visit the poor
and secretive country, which has blocked UN envoys from visiting
in recent years, to see what progress it was making in improving
its human-rights situation.

"One of the things that we have discussed is to ensure that we
will work together to ensure that Myanmar comes out with some
tangible results," Syed Hamid said.

"I think they understood that message. We hope they will take
the necessary step without us wanting to interfere in their
internal affairs," he said.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said ASEAN's
foreign ministers, meeting here ahead of a two-day regional
summit starting on Monday, had been critical during Friday's
discussions.

"We have discussed Myanmar in a very frank manner," he said.

Syed Hamid's remarks were perhaps among the bluntest made by
ASEAN about Myanmar, said Chandra Muzaffar, president of human
rights group the International Movement for a Just World (JUST).

"The heat on Myanmar has been increasing in the last few weeks
and months," Muzaffar told Reuters. "So Syed Hamid's statement
should be seen against this backdrop -- a situation where it is
obvious that Myanmar is in the dock, and rightly so."

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990 but was never
allowed to take power. The country, formerly known as Burma, has
been ruled by the military since 1962.

At last month's summit of Pacific Rim leaders, U.S. President
George W. Bush pressured ASEAN to take a tougher stance on
Myanmar and described the country as an outpost of "isolation,
backwardness and brutality."

Top opposition leaders are among the more than 1,000 political
prisoners that the United Nations says are being detained by the
regime, which an Asian rights group has accused of "brutal and
systematic" torture.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special rapporteur on human
rights in Myanmar, has been blocked from entering the country for
two years.