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        BURMA REMAINS A SORE SPOT AFTER ASEAN ENTRY
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By Christina Toh-Pantin

Kuala  Lumpur, July 26: The Association of South East Asian
Nations  is discovering that Burma remains an international
issue, despite its admittance to the regional grouping this
week.   It was  upstaged by war-racked  Cambodia during the
30th  anniversary  meeting  of Asean  foreign  ministers on
Thursday and Friday.

But  Burma is  back in the  spotlight again  as other Asean
countries  and Rangoon's major Western critics gather for a
meeting  of the Asean Regional Security Forum on Sunday and
bilateral talks between participants.

Cambodia  was to have joined  the group together with Burma
and  Laos on Wednesday,  but its entry was postponed due to
the  political turmoil there.   Asean also includes Brunei,
Indonesia,  Malaysia, the  Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.

At  a  news briefing  on  Saturday with  Australian foreign
affairs  minister Alexander Downer,   Burma was the hottest
topic.   Mr Downer,  who met Burmese foreign minister U Ohn
Gyaw  on  Friday,  said  he  came away  "disappointed" that
constitutional  reform in  Burma was  proceeding at  a very
slow  pace,  likening it  to the speed of  "glue going up a
hill."

Asean  secretary general  Ajit Singh  had also acknowledged
what he called "technical problems" over Burma's membership
with the European Union,  the United States and Canada that
had to be worked out as soon as possible.

Burma's  crackdown  on  a  pro-democracy  movement  and the
refusal  of its  generals to  recognise the  results of the
1990  elections won  by Nobel  laureate Aung  San Suu Kyi's
National  League  for  Democracy  have  raised  the  ire of
Western   governments  as  well  as  human  rights  groups.

The   military   government  has   since  begun   talks  on
constitutional  reform paving  the way  for elections,  but
these have dragged on.Asean,  which faced pressure form the
United States not to admit Burma, has said it was reassured
that   Rangoon  was   working  on   constitutional  reform.

"We expressed what our concerns were and what we would like
to  see happen," Malaysian  foreign minister Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi told reporters on Friday.

Until the eve of Burma's induction into Asean, Mr Abdullah,
who  is  this  year's  chairman  of  Asean,  found  himself
justifying the inclusion.

He  said Asean believed it was more beneficial to get Burma
"into  the club."  Mr Abdullah  said Asean  believes it can
exert  far more influence by  "engaging the troubled member
than isolating it." (Reuter)

                                The Asian Age 27 July 1997
    News and Information Bureau, All Burma Students League.

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