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Malaysia rebukes Myanmar at regional security meet
The military Junta's refusal to restore democracy and its continued house arrest of Suu Kyi are a growing embarrassment to ASEAN.
Host Malaysia delivered an unusually harsh rebuke of military-ruled Myanmar on the eve of a key regional security meeting Monday, as hopes dwindled for nuclear talks with North Korea.
The Myanmar junta's refusal to restore democracy and its continued house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi are a growing embarrassment for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is holding its annual security meeting in Malaysia's largest city, Kuala Lumpur.
"ASEAN has reached the stage where it is not possible to defend Myanmar if it does not cooperate with us or help itself by delivering tangible progress on economic and political reforms," said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal Asia on Monday.
The regional grouping has come under increasing pressure from major trading partners United States and Europe to persuade the Myanmar's rulers to move toward democracy and improve its human rights record.
Syed Hamid's comments appeared the day before Malaysia hosts a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It was the most scathing criticism yet of Myanmar by Malaysia, which was instrumental in bringing the country into ASEAN in 1997.
North Korea's Embassy, meanwhile, confirmed that Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun will take part in the ASEAN Regional Forum, which follows the ASEAN foreign ministers' meet.
It was hoped that ARF, which brings together Asian and Western powers every year, would provide a venue for reviving the six-party talks on resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis.
But a Japanese official said Monday there was no clear indication it would happen.
"I don't think there is any concrete sign or concrete indication whether we can have the six-party talks" in Kuala Lumpur, said Yoshinori Katori, the spokesman of Foreign Minister Taro Aso, during a visit to Manila.
Aso will also attend ARF along with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The reclusive communist state of North Korea is expected to be a key topic at the ARF meeting.
The regime has been the focus of global security concern after it test-fired a series of missiles, including a long-range ballistic missile potentially capable of reaching the US
"We hope that we can talk on this issue also in the ARF in Kuala Lumpur and give a strong signal to the North Korean government that it should adhere to the moratorium of not shooting these missiles," said Katori.
The six-party talks brings together the North's five dialogue partners China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US. All will be represented at the ARF.
Talking to journalists in Washington, Rice said last week that she would be "happy to attend," such talks if they could be arranged.
The aim of the talks has been to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program in return for aid, trade and security guarantees, but negotiations stalled in November when Pyongyang refused to attend the discussions in protest over US allegations that the regime had engaged in illicit financial activity.
On the issue of Myanmar, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid wrote in the Journal that the junta has failed to "convince not only ASEAN, but also the international community, that their roadmap to political and economic reforms was on track."
Myanmar's junta took power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement. It called elections in 1990 but decided not to hand over the government when Suu Kyi's party won.
It claims to be working on a road map to democracy but has show no tangible results. Syed Hamid said while ASEAN appreciates the internal problems faced by the Myanmar government, "they could have easily accommodated the request from ASEAN by releasing political detainees, including Aung San Suu Kyi."
The foreign ministers, in a statement at the end of their meeting, are expected to express concern about Myanmar but it will not be as strident as Syed Hamid's.
"What we are saying is how to address this issue _ to be handled by ASEAN because the whole world thinks ASEAN is not doing anything," ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said.
The 10 ASEAN countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Its dialogue partners in the ARF are Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, East Timor, European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Korea, United States.
