Lawmakers express concern at ASEAN

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Subject: Lawmakers express concern at ASEAN admission of Myanmar

 Lawmakers express concern at ASEAN admission of Myanmar
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     TOKYO, March 11 Kyodo - An international group of lawmakers
voiced concern Tuesday at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) possibly admitting Myanmar as a full member without regard
for improvement in democracy in the country.
     The concerns were expressed at the inaugural annual meeting of
the International Network of Political Leaders Promoting Democracy in
Burma (PD Burma), held in Tokyo on Monday and Tuesday.
     Kjell Bondevik, chairman of PD Burma, told a news conference
that the 10 participants ''agreed to encourage ASEAN to impose some
preconditions before admitting Burma as a member.''
     Bondevik, a former Norwegian foreign minister, cited as one such
condition that Myanmar's junta, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC), stop its violence against the ethnic Karen people.
     He also urged SLORC to release political prisoners, open
universities to students and resume dialogue with pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who
leads the National League for Democracy (NLD).
     Along with Cambodia and Laos, military-ruled Myanmar is widely
expected to be accepted into the seven-member ASEAN at this year's
ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur in July.
     Lim Kit Siang, a member of the Malaysian parliament, said,
''Voices must be raised to express concerns about this possibility of
having SLORC in ASEAN.''
     After the meeting, a Japanese parliamentary league issued a
statement under the name of its deputy chairman Yukio Hatoyama,
co-leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, calling on the Japanese
government to engage in active diplomacy to promote dialogue between
SLORC and the NLD.
     ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
==Kyodo
KWS-21:04-11-03-97