Suu Kyi asks for world's patience: RI
Suu Kyi asks for world's patience: RI
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Myanmar's opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
has asked the international community to be patient with the
Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyut's administration, Minister of
Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Tuesday.
"She herself said that ASEAN should not push the new
government too hard, because in the end it will only hamper the
reconciliation and democratization processes," Hassan said.
He did not explain how he received information that Suu Kyi
had changed her stance in regards her political rival.
"As a family, we continue to encourage them (Myanmar) to
continue with the reconciliation process," he said, referring to
the regional grouping, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member.
ASEAN leaders had set a deadline that Myanmar should release
Suu Kyi from house arrest before their annual summit in Bali last
October, but Myanmar replied only that she could not leave her
house due to her health, not because she was under detention.
After failing to pressure the Myanmar junta to release Suu Kyi
from custody, the grouping tried to persuade the military regime
and its prime minister, elected in 1990, to return to the
negotiation table.
Hassan also praised the Myanmar junta for showing more
flexibility and openness in facing its opposition, while
declaring that he expected Myanmar to set a time frame for the
reconciliation and democratization processes.
ASEAN diplomats recently disclosed that the regional grouping
had decided to stop using harsh tactics because the junta had
threatened to revert to a foreign policy of isolation.
"If Myanmar isolates itself, it will be a backfire for ASEAN,"
said a senior diplomat on condition of anonymity.
Hassan said ASEAN would not choose sanctions as a means to
force Myanmar toward reconciliation.
"Maintaining its national integrity is a major problem in
Myanmar ... it is pluralistic country with so many ethnic groups.
We (ASEAN) are aware of the condition," he said.
The minister expressed his confidence that the junta would
involve Suu Kyi in the country's ongoing reconciliation process,
as was also stated by ASEAN in Bangkok in December, when it met
with Myanmar on the sidelines of a 12-nation democratic talks and
encouraged the acceleration of democratic reform in the country.
AFP reported at that time that Myanmar Foreign Minister Win
Aung said the regime would hold a national convention to draft a
new constitution in 2004 as a first step in the road map toward
democracy.
Suu Kyi has been placed under house arrest by the military
government three times since 1988 for her pro-democracy,
opposition stance. Although her National League for Democracy won
an overwhelming victory in the military-sponsored general
election in 1990, the junta refused to hand over its power to the
daughter of Myanmar's founding father, Gen. Aung San.
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Myanmar's opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
has asked the international community to be patient with the
Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyut's administration, Minister of
Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Tuesday.
"She herself said that ASEAN should not push the new
government too hard, because in the end it will only hamper the
reconciliation and democratization processes," Hassan said.
He did not explain how he received information that Suu Kyi
had changed her stance in regards her political rival.
"As a family, we continue to encourage them (Myanmar) to
continue with the reconciliation process," he said, referring to
the regional grouping, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member.
ASEAN leaders had set a deadline that Myanmar should release
Suu Kyi from house arrest before their annual summit in Bali last
October, but Myanmar replied only that she could not leave her
house due to her health, not because she was under detention.
After failing to pressure the Myanmar junta to release Suu Kyi
from custody, the grouping tried to persuade the military regime
and its prime minister, elected in 1990, to return to the
negotiation table.
Hassan also praised the Myanmar junta for showing more
flexibility and openness in facing its opposition, while
declaring that he expected Myanmar to set a time frame for the
reconciliation and democratization processes.
ASEAN diplomats recently disclosed that the regional grouping
had decided to stop using harsh tactics because the junta had
threatened to revert to a foreign policy of isolation.
"If Myanmar isolates itself, it will be a backfire for ASEAN,"
said a senior diplomat on condition of anonymity.
Hassan said ASEAN would not choose sanctions as a means to
force Myanmar toward reconciliation.
"Maintaining its national integrity is a major problem in
Myanmar ... it is pluralistic country with so many ethnic groups.
We (ASEAN) are aware of the condition," he said.
The minister expressed his confidence that the junta would
involve Suu Kyi in the country's ongoing reconciliation process,
as was also stated by ASEAN in Bangkok in December, when it met
with Myanmar on the sidelines of a 12-nation democratic talks and
encouraged the acceleration of democratic reform in the country.
AFP reported at that time that Myanmar Foreign Minister Win
Aung said the regime would hold a national convention to draft a
new constitution in 2004 as a first step in the road map toward
democracy.
Suu Kyi has been placed under house arrest by the military
government three times since 1988 for her pro-democracy,
opposition stance. Although her National League for Democracy won
an overwhelming victory in the military-sponsored general
election in 1990, the junta refused to hand over its power to the
daughter of Myanmar's founding father, Gen. Aung San.