Suu Kyi urges ASEAN to push for changa in Myanmar

Suu Kyi urges ASEAN to push for changa in Myanmar

BANGKOK (AP): Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
sent a message to Southeast Asian leaders as they gathered
yesterday for a summit that their interests would be best served
by an end to military rule in her country.

"Without political change, I do not think there will be
stability in Myanmar nor will there be sustainable economic
development," Suu Kyi said in a message released in Bangkok by a
human rights group.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are
holding an informal summit in Kuala Lumpur marking the regional
grouping's 30th anniversary.

ASEAN earlier this year ignored Western objections to the poor
human rights record of Myanmar's military government and admitted
the country as a member, saying Myanmar could progress faster
inside the group than outside.

Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, is in a
stalemate with the regime over the demands she has made for more
democracy since an uprising against military rule in 1988 that
was bloodily crushed by the army.

The government has largely confined her to her Yangon home
since November 1996 to curb her political activities, but despite
the entry to ASEAN and a recent shakeup in the hierarchy,
Myanmar's military rulers remain international pariahs.

Stability

Suu Kyi said in a statement released by the Alternative ASEAN
Network on Myanmar, or ALTSEAN, that without political stability
and development, Myanmar would continue to be a problem for the
grouping.

"I would like to think that people of ASEAN countries are
sympathetic and that they want to see a government in Myanmar
that is accountable and has the support of our people," Suu Kyi
said.

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (then
the name of Myanmar), a Washington-based government in exile,
said that "a solution to the economic and political problems of
Myanmar are inextricably tied to the revival of the ASEAN economy
as a whole".

Hundreds of thousands of Myanmar people have crossed the
border to wealthier Thailand because of poverty and human rights
violations, including widespread forced labor and forced removal
of villagers from zones where the army is fighting ethnic rebel
groups.

Myanmar has not been spared the economic turmoil rocking much
stronger economies in Southeast Asia. The U.S. dollar has risen
in value against the Myanmar currency, the kyat, in the past year
and inflation is soaring.