Suu Kyi challenges ASEAN policy on Myanmar

Suu Kyi challenges ASEAN policy on Myanmar

YANGON (AFP): Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi believes ASEAN's policy of constructive engagement with the Myanmarese junta is flawed because it concentrates on current economic prospects at the expense of political change.

In an interview with AFP at the lakeside home where she spent nearly six years under house arrest until July 10, Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday also suggested tourists avoid Myanmar to show they support calls for democratic reforms.

She disputed government claims that economic development was on a sustainable upward track and would eventually lead to the country's democratization.

Economic "half-measures" taken by the junta would not bring democracy, she said. "It will only lead to a widening gap between the haves and the have-nots which is, in fact, inimical to democracy."

Only by spreading wealth throughout all segments of the nation can democracy be bolstered, she said.

"But actually, it works both ways. You won't get that kind of economic development without democracy," she added.

Aung San Suu Kyi said she regretted that the constructive engagement policy followed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) seemed to ignore the opposition but courted the junta.

"Constructive engagement, to be effective, should be engaged with all parties concerned," she said.

In her view, ASEAN should be having second thoughts about the early admission of Myanmar, which would join Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

"Apart from anything else, I do not think the Burmese (Myanmarese) economy is in as good a shape as ASEAN would like it to be," she said.

In any case, she said, "Economics and politics are interdependent and, whether or not you recognize the fact, you cannot escape the consequences of certain political policies."

She said she believed the average six to eight percent economic growth rate was already beginning to tail off. "There are some very, very necessary structural changes that would have to take place before there can be real economic development."

The opposition leader noted meanwhile that her National League for Democracy (NLD) was less than enthusiastic about the junta's plans to earn more tourist dollars by promoting Visit Myanmar Year, which starts in late 1996.

"I do not think that it would help very much if the coming of tourists is taken to mean that people don't care whether or not there is democracy in Burma (Myanmar)," she said.

Referring to her earlier statements that it was too soon for foreign investors to come to Myanmar, she added: "I think for tourists, too, there is a time to come and a time not to come."

Aung San Suu Kyi said she and the NLD would continue to speak out, despite attacks against her in the official press.

"Under the law, of course, silence is consent, and we certainly are not consenting to the existing situation," she stressed.

The junta, officially known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) needs to address the issue of the 1990 elections, she said. The NLD won the vote, but the SLORC refused to hand over power.

The opposition leader said she was determined to pursue her political activities, although she admitted a heavy schedule sometimes left her physically drained.

"I would just like to have a good rest, to read, write a few letters, ... just a few days at home quietly, without appointments," she said.