Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt said yesterday that building democracy was more important than any individual, a veiled reference to a decision by the junta to detain democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
"As I explained to [Japanese] Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, we are doing our best to achieve democracy despite many challenges," an ASEAN source quoted Khin Nyunt as saying after Koizumi pressed the junta for concrete progress during a meeting with ASEAN leaders.
"Building a democratic system is more important than any individual or organization," he was quoted as saying. "I assure the prime minister of Japan that we will do what is best for our country."
His comments marked the clearest indication yet that the junta is in no rush to release Suu Kyi, taken into what it called protective detention on May 30 and recently moved to house arrest after she underwent major surgery.
Koizumi, addressing leaders of the 10-member ASEAN, urged Myanmar to make convincing progress toward democracy but did not make a specific demand for the release of Suu Kyi.
"We hope the results will be convincing to Japan and the international community and that there will be concrete progress on the ground," the official quoted Koizumi as saying.
Japan cut off new aid to Myanmar after it again detained Suu Kyi in May.
Thailand was more direct, saying Myanmar should do more to explain its plans to the international community and reiterating its demand for the immediate release of Suu Kyi, a Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman said after a meeting between Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Khin Nyunt.
A day earlier, Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbors welcomed a pledge by its military rulers to introduce democracy, stepping back from earlier calls for Suu Kyi's immediate release.
Myanmar's decision to move Suu Kyi to house arrest from what officials called protective detention had given ASEAN a cover to avoid direct criticism of a member and has been cited as an important gesture.
Myanmar has said it is firmly committed to achieving democracy and, among other things, wants to draft a new constitution with the involvement of opposition parties.
Some ASEAN officials, however, have said the Myanmar road map outlined by Yangon at meetings this week was vague and lacked a timetable for a transition to democracy.
The Myanmar opposition has written off the plan as a cynical ploy.
The military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, has been saying for more than a decade it is committed to introducing democracy. But it ignored the results of 1990 polls, swept by Suu Kyi's party, and threw scores of its members into prison.
Suu Kyi has spent more than half of the past 14 years in detention.
"We would like to see the lifting of all restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi as soon as possible," Thai spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow told reporters, adding that Bangkok believed recent moves were a response to pressure from other ASEAN members at a foreign ministers' meeting in June.
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