Irrawaddy: - Shah Paung

Tue 29 May 2007

The Philippines government Tuesday urged the Burmese junta to reconsider its decision to extend the house arrest of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi one year.

“We… urge the Myanmar government to reconsider its decision and lift the house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Philippines Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo in a statement.

The Burmese government has claimed full “adherence” to its “roadmap” to move toward democracy, but “this delay in Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release and those of other political prisoners reflects the Myanmar [Burma] government’s unwillingness to demonstrate its genuine commitment to full democratization and national reconciliation,” Romulo said.

The Philippines joined the calls of other Asean countries and international governments in urging the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners in Burma. Currently, the Philippines holds the chair of Asean, a 10-member block of Asian nations.

On Monday, Indonesia voiced its concern, saying Burma’s military government was proving to be an embarrassment to Asean member countries. The UN estimates there are more than 1,100 political prisoners in Burma.

Indonesia is “deeply concerned” that Burma “ignored appeals made by Asean member countries as well as the international communities,” said Indonesia Foreign Minister spokesman Kristiarto Legowo.

Suu Kyi has spent almost 11 of the past 18 years under hose arrest in Rangoon. Her latest house arrest began on May 30, 2003, after she and hundreds of her supporters were attacked by a junta-backed mob.

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Taro Aso told reporters Monday at an EU-Asia meeting in Hamburg, Germany, that Burma’s Foreign Minister told him the extension of Suu Kyi’s house arrest was “a difficult decision” for the Burmese government.

AFP – 26 May 2007

Burma’s military leaders of Myanmar have extended the house arrest of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for another year, ignoring international calls for her freedom.

Police says officials visited the Nobel Peace Prize winner at her lakeside home here to inform her.

“We informed her about the extension,” said a police source, who was among the officials who visited Aung San Suu Kyi.

A Western diplomat in Yangon also said the democracy leader’s house arrest was extended “by one year without surprise.”

The international community condemns the move

The decision attracted condemnation from the international community, with the United States leading the criticism.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 61, has spent most of the past 17 years under house arrest and has little contact with the outside world, apart from her live-in maid and visits from her doctor.

The last time the opposition leader — the only Nobel peace laureate in detention — was able to leave her house was November 2006, when the junta allowed her to meet visiting UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari for one hour.

The extension was widely expected, with observers saying the junta is fearful the hugely popular democracy leader could threaten its rule.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but was never allowed to govern, quickly denounced the extension.

“Our government totally ignored domestic and international calls demanding her freedom,” said Myint Thein, an NLD spokesman.

“We are very disappointed by this. Her detention is not good for the country,” he said.

Political figures from across the world have ramped up calls for her release, with ex-US president Bill Clinton and 58 other former world leaders sending a joint letter last week to junta head General Than Shwe.

Two other Nobel peace laureates — former US president Jimmy Carter and former South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung — were among those who signed the appeal.

Citing Myanmar’s rights violations, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention, the United States last week renewed sanctions against the regime for another year, as did the European Union in April.

“The United States condemns the generals of the State Peace and Development Council of Burma for the extension of the house arrest of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi,” said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

“The regime’s unjustified continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and repression of other democratic activists must end,” he added.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon also expressed concern.

The German presidency of the EU urged the ruling military junta to rethink the sentence.

“The presidency of the EU deeply condemns today’s decision of the government of Myanmar to extend the house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for yet another year and deplores that all international appeals… have once more gone unheard,” Berlin said in a statement.

In the past week the junta has detained at least 60 pro-democracy activists as they went to pagodas to pray for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release, and 45 people, mostly NLD members, still remain in custody.

The United Nations has estimated there are 1,100 political prisoners in the country formerly known as Burma, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

Associated Press: Wed 23 May 2007

Beijing: China declined to join Southeast Asian nations urging Myanmar to release detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying Wednesday that her confinement is an internal matter for Myanmar’s government.

China’s stance, given in a brief Foreign Ministry statement, came a day after the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN broke with its core policy of non-interference and pointedly called on Myanmar’s military-backed government to release Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

“The Aung San Suu Kyi matter is Myanmar’s internal affair,” the Foreign Ministry statement said. “The Chinese side hopes to see Myanmar maintain political stability and continue to make progress in the process of national reconciliation.”

The discord between ASEAN and Myanmar one of its members puts China in a bind. Suu Kyi’s years of arrest and harassment by Myanmar authorities has put a human face on the junta’s political suppression.

Beijing has worked hard to build close relations with ASEAN and its 10 members, seeing their support as crucial to China’s smooth economic and geopolitical rise, and is trying to portray itself as a responsible world player.

But Beijing has also benefited from Myanmar’s political isolation, providing Chinese diplomatic support to the junta and crucial investment, especially in oil, gas and minerals.

In a sign of this balancing act, China, along with Russia, vetoed a U.S.-backed resolution in United Nations Security Council in January, calling on Myanmar to end political suppression. However, in doing so, China’s U.N. ambassador said Beijing would support ASEAN in its policies toward Myanmar.

“China will, as always, support ASEAN to play a leading role in addressing the issue of Myanmar,” Ambassador Wang Guangya said then.

Irrawaddy / Estrella Torres

Wed 23 May 2007

Manila: Senior ministers of Asean have side-stepped the issue of Burma, including the continued detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, during a series of meetings in the Philippines this week.

Philippines foreign undersecretary Erlinda Basilio said the human rights issue in Burma is not on the agenda of the Asean senior officials meeting set to conclude on Wednesday and the Asean Regional Forum on Friday, as well as other parallel Asean meetings.

“We are not taking up Myanmar (Burma),” said Basilio, in a briefing with Manila-based reporters. “Our position with regards to Myanmar is defined by the Asean communique issued in Kuala Lumpur (in 2005) to give time and space for Myanmar to sort out its national challenges with the participation of all the political forces.”

The foreign ministry official said: “A nation is not built in a day: it takes time. At the same time, we are also still trying to build a nation. Other countries are similarly situated. We are faced with different challenges. We have to adopt solutions to our problems.”

“We hope that the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi will be lifted for humanitarian reasons. She should be released from house arrest, and that will remove another contentious issue.”

But Asean, she said, will not push the matter with Burma during the Asean meetings, citing the regional body’s principle not to discuss internal problems.

Party list Rep Etta Rosales of Akbayan meanwhile criticized Asean senior ministers for their conservative stand amid continued human rights atrocities committed by Burma’s military junta.

“We find them (Asean senior ministers) so terribly conservative,” said Rosales, in an interview on Wednesday at the launch of the regional campaign of the Free Burma Coalition at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.

“The fact that they do not agenda it (the Burma issue) shows that they are allowing non-compliance to the democratic standards of Asean to prevail. They have become very quiet and passive,” Rosales said.

Agence France Presse: Mon 21 May 2007

Tokyo: Lawmakers from Japan and six Southeast Asian countries called Monday for the release of Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi days before the junta decides whether to extend her detention.

Parliamentarians interested in Myanmar from Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are meeting for two days in Tokyo in a bid to build up pressure on the regime.

In a joint statement, they called for “the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and the unconditional release of all political prisoners.”

The Nobel peace laureate has been under house arrest for most of the past 17 years. Her detention comes up for review Sunday.

The Tokyo conference is being attended by Sein Win, her cousin and her movement’s prime minister-in-exile.

The lawmakers also “pointed out the importance of Japan’s role in the problem of Myanmar.”

Unlike Western countries, Japan has shunned sanctions against Myanmar although last year it backed efforts to bring its human rights record before the UN Security Council.

“Japan could be the country to host the first informal meeting of all these factions of the crisis to work toward a resolution,” said Cambodian member of parliament Son Chhay.

“We believe very strongly that the issue of Burma is no longer an internal problem of Burma alone,” he said, using Myanmar’s former name.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military government since 1962. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the junta never allowed it to take office.

May 21, 07 4:03pm

The government today urged a united stand from Southeast Asian nations to push for the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a week before her current house arrest is reviewed.

“Asean countries must act together. There cannot (just) be some Asean countries that may be sympathetic towards what is happening (in Myanmar),” Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.

“There must be one way of looking at things. But if we start to play our own national interest rather than looking at the whole interest of Asean, that is going to be a problem,” he said, without elaborating.

Syed Hamid recently called on Burma (renamed Myanmar by the junta) to free Nobel prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for most of the past 17 years.

Her detention comes up for review by the junta on May 27 and Syed Hamid said it was difficult to tell if the military junta would free her.

“It is impossible to speculate what the government will do. We do not know very much about the Myanmar government,” he said.

Malaysia, a leading investor in the resource-rich country, has previously signalled the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations is frustrated with member Burma, saying the military regime had snubbed efforts to push for democracy.

International pressure

Syed Hamid said Asean came under international pressure whenever Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters were detained or her arrest was extended, and called on the military junta to be sensitive towards its Southeast Asian neighbours.

“Every time they make new arrests or the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi continues, not only Myanmar is questioned, the whole of Asean is questioned,” he said.

“I think Myanmar has to be sympathetic towards the predicament of Asean countries,” he added.

Syed Hamid said Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention was an “issue of concern and worry,” for Asean, but added the group was opposed to Burma being referred to the United Nations Security Council.

The United States in January introduced a draft resolution at the Security Council urging Burma’s rulers to initiate democratic reforms.

- AFP