Yangon called to speed up 'road map'

Yangon called to speed up 'road map'

THAILAND: Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday called on Myanmar to speed up its newly-announced democracy "road map" and urged the international community to support the isolated regime's efforts.

Myanmar's newly installed Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt on Saturday announced a seven-point plan to reconvene a suspended national convention to draft a new constitution and then hold "free and fair" elections, but gave no timetable for the roadmap.

Analysts dismissed the move as a sham and merely a rehash of the junta's often-stated intentions to pursue a gradual transition to "disciplined democracy."

World leaders have been up in arms since Yangon detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi following May 30 clashes between her supporters and a junta-backed mob in which dozens were feared killed. --AFP

;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Obituary-Vietnam-Oanh Vietnam economist dead at 82 JP/10/ASEAN

Vietnam economist dead at 82

VIETNAM: Nguyen Xuan Oanh, a Harvard-educated economist who helped push communist Vietnam toward a market economy and worked to re-establish relations with the United States, has died. He was 82.

Oanh was involved in creating "doi moi," an economic reform package launched in 1986 to pull the country out of famine by allowing more private enterprise and loosening state control over the economy.

He died on Friday at Cho Ray General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City after being admitted more than 10 days earlier, said hospital deputy director Ha Van Duc, who declined to give the cause of death.

Oanh was born in 1921 in Bac Giang province, 60 kilometers north of Hanoi, according to the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

He graduated from Harvard University in 1954, worked for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the 1960s before returning to Vietnam, according to the Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper. --AP

;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Malaysia-SAfrica S. African leader arrives in KL JP/10/ASEAN

S. African leader arrives in KL

MALAYSIA: South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Malaysia on Monday for a three-day visit to strengthen relations and hold talks with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mbeki, accompanied by his wife and a 70-member delegation comprising government officials and business leaders, was greeted at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport by Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

Mbeki is scheduled to receive an official welcome at Malaysia's Parliament on Tuesday. He will also meet with Mahathir to discuss how to boost ties between African and Southeast Asian nations, as well as international issues such as the fight against terrorism, officials said.

Both countries are expected to sign agreements to bolster economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation during Mbeki's visit. --AP