Friends and critics of military-ruled Myanmar yesterday welcomed its decision to skip the chairmanship of Southeast Asia's bloc next year but warned it must get serious about establishing democracy and free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar's surprise decision grabbed all the attention this week at the annual get-together of foreign ministers of the 10-member ASEAN in Laos. The six-day conference ends tomorrow after the ministers hold their annual security-oriented ASEAN Regional Forum with 14 Western and Asian counterparts.
By agreeing on Tuesday to forgo the chairmanship, Myanmar gave ASEAN breathing space in its confrontation with the US and the EU over the junta's failure to bring democracy.
PHOTO: AP
Washington and the EU had threatened to boycott ASEAN meetings unless Myanmar either released Suu Kyi from house arrest or forfeited its turn to claim the bloc's rotating chairmanship. Most of Myanmar's ASEAN neighbors had feared damage to their trade ties with the West.
Problems
But skipping the chairmanship doesn't solve Myanmar's problem, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington, noting that it remains far from its stated goal of democracy. He renewed US calls for Suu Kyi to be released "immediately and unconditionally."
"Arrests of pro-democracy supporters continue unabated, as do egregious human rights abuses," he said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed the chairmanship deferral as "going in the direction the European Union wants."
But EU sanctions against the Myanmar regime remain in place because it has so far shown no signs of implementing promises to reform and release political prisoners, Solana spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.
"We do not see any change for the better," she said.
Myanmar has been controlled by the current junta since 1988 when it crushed a pro-democracy uprising that saw Suu Kyi rise to prominence. The generals called elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's party won, instead jailing hundreds of dissidents.
Suu Kyi has spent 10 of the last 16 years in detention. Her latest house arrest started in May 2003.
Reconciliation
Myanmar justified its giving up of the chairmanship by saying it is preoccupied with "national reconciliation," a reference to its a road map to democracy.
"It's a good reason," said UN envoy to Malaysia Razali Ismail, contacted by telephone yesterday at his home in Malaysia. "And I hope there will be results from those efforts," he said.
Political prisoners
"We take that the national reconciliation process includes the release of all political prisoners and that would include Aung San Suu Kyi," he said.
However, many observers consider Myanmar's democracy road map a sham because it sets no timeframe and doesn't talk about freeing Suu Kyi.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said yesterday that engaging with Myanmar was "the best thing to do." He said the junta understands that its now under pressure to reform.
"When they move on national reconciliation, there is also democratization ... there must rule of law, there must be free elections. I think they understood this," Syed Hamid said.
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