Indonesian foreign minister urges Burma to release Aung San Suu Kyi

2 June 2006 (AP) - Indonesia's foreign minister said Friday that serious human rights violations are an international issue, and called on Myanmar to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest was extended last week.

"Obviously, no country can claim that gross human rights violations are its own internal affair," Hassan Wirayuda told reporters. "Such an excuse is hard to accept."

Since 2003, he said, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations "has very openly called on Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi." Myanmar is a member of the 10-nation group, which normally follows a policy of not interfering in the domestic affairs of member nations.

But Wirayuda said it was "outdated" to think that human rights violations are not an international issue. Last week, Myanmar's junta ordered an extension of the house arrest of Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who has spent about 10 of the last 17 years in detention.

Two days later, Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win told reporters in Malaysia that Suu Kyi's house arrest was "only a domestic issue."

Wirayuda said ASEAN has asked Myanmar to free all political detainees and continue with a "roadmap" it earlier announced for the restoration of democracy.

Myanmar's poor human rights record has hurt ASEAN's ties with the rest of the world.

Last month, European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson said the EU was eager to forge a free-trade pact with ASEAN, but Myanmar's lack of democracy and abuse of human rights was a problem.

Myanmar's junta took power in 1988 after crushing large pro-democracy demonstrations. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's political party won a landslide victory in general elections.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. [Source]