Indonesia to Appoint Special Envoys to Burma

3 Mar (The Irrawaddy) - Indonesia today signaled it would take the lead within Asean to prompt change in Burma, confirming it was about to nominate two special envoys to the country.

Presidential spokesperson Dino Patti Djalal said one of the representatives would be Ali Alatas, the former foreign minister of Indonesia who now represents the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Even though Alatas does not currently have any official role within the Indonesian government, he was part of the delegation lead by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that visited Rangoon and met with Snr-Gen Than Shwe and other top junta officials on Wednesday.

Djalal said again today that Alatas's role in Rangoon had been to discuss UN reform with Burma's military government, adding that he did not know whether Alatas was being considered to replace the former UN Special Envoy Ismail Razali, who left the post in January.

Djalal declined to reveal the identity of the Indonesian president's second representative to Burma, although he confirmed it would be "another ex-military person, a general," and someone who had been part of this week's delegation to Rangoon. A full list of those delegates has not been made available.

Both were being appointed to serve "as part of the increased dialogue between Indonesia and Myanmar [ Burma]," Djalal told The Irrawaddy.

"President Yudhoyono wants to add more substance to that relationship. Not much had happened with that relationship recently."

Commenting on Burma's much-trumpeted-and widely scorned-seven-step roadmap to democracy, Djalal said that Indonesia would support the process: "It can be some form of democracy. We believe that it can, which is why we are supporting it, but of course-and our president has expressed this-there needs to be an element of national reconciliation...future stages in the Roadmap that allow for inclusion of other parties."

There will be more communication and dialogue and changes coming," Djalal said. "All I can say is we are quite happy with the result of the visit." Indonesia and Burma do not currently have a fixed time or place for the next round of discussions as part of the Memorandum of Understanding on a new bilateral framework signed in Rangoon on Wednesday, "but we want to do it as soon as possible," Djalal said.