Lawmakers urge ASEAN to continue pressure on Myanmar

Asia- Pacific News: 23July, 2006

Kuala Lumpur:  Lawmakers representing countries in the region on Saturday called on Southeast Asian nations to take tougher action in pushing fellow bloc member Myanmar towards democratic reform.

Members of parliament and legislators from five of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - released a statement suggesting several tough forms of action.

These included holding back investments in Myanmar and exerting pressure for the ruling junta to be placed on the UN Security Council's agenda, the Malaysian-based ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus said following a meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

'ASEAN must accept that it bears primary responsibility for finding a political solution to the problem,' the statement, which was also endorsed by lawmakers from India, Australia and New Zealand, read.

'It is time that ASEAN members publicly acknowledged the myriad of security impacts resulting from the Myanmar regime's misrule.'

Foreign ministers from the 10-member ASEAN are due to meet in Kuala Lumpur next week, where Myanmar is expected to be a hot topic of discussion.

The ministers' meeting will be followed by the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting, to be attended by ASEAN's dialogue partners, including the US, the EU, India, China, Japan and South Korea.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, whose country currently chairs ASEAN, said Friday that the regional group would now take a step back from democratization efforts in Myanmar, saying that Myanmar had snubbed its regional neighbours and chosen instead to engage the UN.

Syed Hamid said that ASEAN, which has a policy of non-interference in member countries, would continue to welcome Myanmar as a member, but would encourage the country to move towards reform.

International pressure on Myanmar has been mounting in recent years, with the U.N. asking Yangon to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrested was extended in May for another year.

Suu Kyi, who heads the National League for Democracy, has spent 10 years under house arrest for demanding democracy in one of the world' poorest countries.