3 February 2005

Jakarta, Thu – Parliamentarians from almost all of Indonesia’s political parties have formed the Indonesian Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar this week. The Caucus was launched at a dinner held at Jakarta’s Hilton Hotel on February 1st. The event was attended by legislators from other ASEAN countries and featured a solidarity message from Burmese MPs. This national-level caucus is a part of the regional ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC)

So far the caucus membership comprises individual MPs from most of the parties represented in the Indonesian Parliament, the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat. The parties are Golkar, PAN (Partai Amanat Nasional), PBR (Partai Bintang Reformasi), PD (Partai Demokrat), PDI-P (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan), PDS (Partai Damai Sejahtera), PKB (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa) and PKS (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera).

During the dinner to launch the caucus, Indonesian parliamentarian Mr H. Ade Nasution called on parliamentarians from ASEAN countries to initiate petitions demanding the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for more than 9 of the past 15 years. Mr Nasution, who is also Vice-Chairman of the Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation, said that the prolonged detention of the Nobel Peace Laureate was unacceptable to most parliamentarians.

Ms Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, who hosted the event, hoped that more Indonesian MPs would join the caucus. “This is no longer an internal issue, since Myanmar’s instability has impacts on the entire region. The situation has dragged on for too long, and it is time we acted in solidarity with the people and elected representatives of Myanmar,” she emphasised.

Malaysian parliamentarian and AIPMC President Datuk Zaid Ibrahim congratulated his Indonesian colleagues for the timely development: “The situation of Myanmar is increasing in urgency. Besides the arbitrary detentions of Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues, there has been serious instability even within the regime leadership itself. With the parliament of ASEAN’s largest state on our side, I am sure our work to support the democratisation of Myanmar will be much more effective,” he said.

Datuk Zaid is also chair of the national-level Pro-Democracy Myanmar Caucus (Malaysian Parliament). The AIPMC was formed on 28 November 2005 last year, at a workshop hosted by the Malaysian caucus.

The Indonesian caucus, which is chaired by Mr. Djoko Susilo (PAN), is the 3rd such national caucus in ASEAN. The Malaysian caucus was formed in May 2004 and a similar Thai Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar was formed in August 2004.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACTS:

For the Indonesian Caucus: Ms Nursyahbani Katjasungkana. Tel + 6221 575 5664 / 5 or + 6281 115 1544

For ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus: Datuk Zaid Ibrahim + 603 2087 9838 or + 6012 218 6699