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13/7/99AAP: SUU KYI SEEKS ASEAN INI (r)



Subject: 13/7/99AAP: SUU KYI SEEKS ASEAN INITIATIVE ON MYANMAR DIALOGUE

AAP 13 JULY 99, 15:30

ASIA: Suu Kyi seeks ASEAN initiative on Myanmar dialogue

BANGKOK, July 13 Reuters-- Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
has called on the Association of South East Asian Nations to launch an
initiative encouraging dialogue between her National League for
Democracy and the ruling generals.

In a commentary published today in Thailand's The Nation newspaper, the
1991 Nobel Peace prize winner said ASEAN's "constructive engagement" of
the ruling military had failed and its policy of non-intereference was
an excuse for not helping.

She said that while some countries were working toward democracy in
Burma, members of ASEAN were not. She said some ASEAN nations justified
not helping by arguing that democracy was a "western concept.

"We believe that support from ASEAN--which comprises Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos and Vietnam and
which Burma recently joined--is crucial to our quest for democracy," Suu
Kyi wrote.

"It is time for a new initiative on the part of ASEAN members to impress
on the junta the need to open a dialogue with the NLD," she said.

The call came after a delegation from the European Union visited Burma
last week seeking ways to re-establish a dialogue with the military in
the interests of human rights and democracy.

It met government and opposition figures, including Suu Kyi, looking for
ways to encourage a dialogue between the opposition and the government.

Suu Kyi said her party had "bent over backwards" to make dialogue
possible with the military. "But the military regime does not want
dialogue because they think it will be the beginning of the end for
them," she said.

Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung appeared to pour cold water over the
idea of foreign mediation last week when he told Reuters Burma could
solve its own problems.

The government has insisted as a pre-condition to talks that the
opposition renounce a committee it established last year to represent  a
parliament elected in Burma's last election.

Suu Kyi's party won the 1990 election by a landslide--winning 392 out of
the 485 parliamentary seats-- but the generals never allowed parliament
to meet.

In her commentary, Suu Kyi called on ASEAN to put pressure on the
military to convene parliament.

She said there was contradiction between ASEAN's policy of
non-interference and investment by its members in Burma, which she said
provided legitimacy and propped up the government.

She said human rights activists and many NLD members were languishing in
jail and  the military continued to "harass, intimidate and repress"
pro-democracy advocates.

She singled out Indonesia as the biggest ASEAN investor in Burma and
said it had been the general's strongest supporter when it was seeking
international legitimacy through admission to ASEAN. Burma joined the
regional bloc two years ago. REuters ts.
-- 
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