MALAYSIA REJECTS U.S. CALLS TO PRES

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Subject: MALAYSIA REJECTS U.S. CALLS TO PRESSURE BURMA ON RIGHTS.


	MALAYSIA REJECTS U.S. CALLS TO PRESSURE CAMBODIA AND BURMA ON RIGHTS 
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     Thursday 24 July, 1997 (4:02pm AEST)


          Malaysia has rejected United States calls to put pressure on
          Cambodia and Burma over human rights issues.

          Malaysia's Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, says South
          East Asia will resolve its own problems in its own way.

          Graeme Dobell reports that Dr Mahathir was formally
          opening the annual ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in
          Kuala Lumpur.

          Dr Mahathir said ASEAN had to resist and reject calls to
          deny membership and apply pressure on South East Asian
          countries. While the United States says ASEAN should push
          human rights and democracy issues in Cambodia and
          Burma, Doctor Mahathir said membership of ASEAN could
          be seen as a steady influence on domestic politics. The
          Prime Minister also hit out at international money markets
          that have driven down the currencies of Thailand, the
          Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Doctor Mahathir
          attacked rogue speculators as billion-dollar anarchists who
          wanted to destroy weak countries.

	(24 July 1997, ABC News)

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