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SE Asian activists push ASEAN on hu



Subject: SE Asian activists push ASEAN on human rights 

SE Asian activists push ASEAN on human rights
22 July 99
(Reuters)

SINGAPORE, July 22 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian activists demanded on
Thursday that a conference of the region's foreign ministers put human
rights on its agenda.

They said the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was using its
policy of non-interference in each other's affairs as an excuse to ignore
human rights abuses in the region.

Their demands echoed an appeal earlier this month by Myanmar opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who urged ASEAN to encourage dialogue between her
party and the military.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won Myanmar's last election in 1990
by a landslide but the military, which seized power two years earlier,
ignored the result and has tried to silence the party through a campaign of
arrests and intimidation.

``My message to ASEAN is get real, grow up, learn how to grapple with the
problem,'' Debbie Stothard, coordinator of Bangkok-based group Altsean
Burma, told a news conference a day before ASEAN foreign ministers were due
to meet in Singapore.

``The problem won't go away if you just ignore it and hide behind the excuse
of non-interference.''

Representatives from the Philippine arm of Amnesty International, Malaysia's
Suaram, Indonesia's Alliance of Independent Journalists and other groups
were also present at at the news conference.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- countries that range from
free-wheeling democracies to military dictatorships and communist states.

Thailand has said creating democracy is Myanmar's responsibility, although
ASEAN could act as a supporter of greater democracy.

ASEAN's image as a united front was tarnished by the 1997 financial crisis,
which sparked cries for political reform and more transparent and
accountable government across the region.

``You can't, as it were, divorce the other issues from the economic
issues -- they are all part and parcel of the same thing,'' said J.B.
Jeyaratnam from the Open Singapore Centre rights group.

Asked whether their efforts had been worthwhile despite having made little
headway, Stothard said: ``The answer is yes. Hopefully the voice of reason
will overcome the karaoke singing of the ASEAN ministers.''