Suu Kyi calls for ASEAN support

Suu Kyi calls for ASEAN support

BANGKOK (AFP): Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on ASEAN on Tuesday to harden its stance toward the junta in Yangon, saying the bloc does not have a "clear conscience" on human rights.

The opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate accused the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) of hiding behind concepts like "Asian values" and "non-interference" to avoid taking on the junta.

"The democratization process in Burma can be accelerated if the international community -- (ASEAN) in particular -- increases pressure on the military regime," she wrote in an article for Thailand's Nation daily.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta has refused to yield power.

Thousands of democracy supporters, including scores of NLD MPs, have been harassed and imprisoned since the election.