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Reuter: Malay FM Shouts the West to



Subject: Reuter: Malay FM Shouts the West to Stay Away from Burma-ASEAN Wedding

Malay FM Shouts the West to Stay Away from Burma-ASEAN Wedding
 
   KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Reuter) - Malaysia's Foreign Minister said on
Tuesday the West had no business in telling Southeast Asian nations that
Burma should not be allowed to join the region's foremost economic and
political grouping, ASEAN.
     "We are able to decide what is in the best interest of ASEAN and I
don't think we need to be told by anyone," Abdullah Badawi was quoted as
saying by the national Bernama news agency.
     Abdullah, speaking after talks with visiting Burmese Foreign Minister
Ohn Gyaw, was commenting on the recent bid by a group of U.S. envoys to
discourage ASEAN governments to admit Burma into the grouping.
     ASEAN, formed in 1967, groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia and Laos are
observers in the grouping and Burma is expected to be accorded the same
status in July.
     U.S. officials, in a recent tour of ASEAN nations, have warned that
Burma could destabilise the region if allowed to join the grouping before
its ruling junta and pro-democracy forces achieved reconciliation.
     "This is a matter for Myanmar (Burma) whether it wishes to join ASEAN
or not, and it is a matter for ASEAN whether Myanmar should be a member of
ASEAN," Abdullah said. "(It) is not a matter for others to decide."
  REUTER
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