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.