Lawmakers may ask Asean to suspend Burma

Lawmakers may ask Asean to suspend Burma

26 October 2004 (AP) - Southeast Asian lawmakers might ask their governments to suspend military-ruled Myanmar from the region's main grouping if it doesn't speed up democratic reforms, officials said Monday.

The non-binding recommendation could emerge at a Nov. 27-28 conference in Kuala Lumpur of members of parliament and other officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), said Nazri Aziz, a Malaysian minister.

The conference has been initiated by a group of Malaysian legislators who are dissatisfied with Myanmar's pace of democratisation.

"Myanmar has taken advantage of the fact that Asean governments are very tolerant," said Nazri, a minister in the Malaysian Prime Minister's Department. "We have to tell them, straight to their faces, what is not acceptable to us."

Nazri said Asean also needed to boost efforts to pressure Myanmar's junta to release Suu Kyi. Lawmakers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have confirmed plans to attend the Malaysian conference, to be held on the eve of the Asean leaders' annual summit in Laos. Asean also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Asean's 10 members maintain a policy of noninterference in each other's affairs, and the parliamentary group's recommendations will not be binding on their governments.

Asean must "consider unpleasant options such as the expulsion or suspension of Myanmar from Asean," said Lim Kit Siang, Malaysia's opposition leader in Parliament.

Government lawmaker Zaid Ibrahim noted that Myanmar was scheduled to chair Asean in 2006, which could be "embarrassing and counterproductive" for the grouping.

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