ASEAN Waiting Response from Myanmar

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 23, 2003

ASEAN Waiting Response from Myanmar

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The ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is "impatiently waiting response from Myanmar" in regards with the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and calls for the acceleration of reconciliation and democratization process in the country, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Wednesday.

"Among nine ASEAN (member countries), we are impatiently waiting the response from Myanmar," Wirajuda told a media briefingon Bali island, the venue for the fifth Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

"We'd like very much to see that Myanmar will not only come to us to explain, but bring with it a positive response to the issue regarding the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and the process of reconciliation and democratization in Myanmar," he said.

The minister said although the Myanmar issue was not formally included in the agenda during the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) forumhere, it would very likely become a crucial topic in the dialogue.

Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have since last year expressed their will to join the ASEM grouping. Seven other ASEAN countries -- Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam -- share ASEM's Asian membership with China, Japan and South Korea.

Wirajuda said Indonesia's view on Myanmar issue remains the same with the joint commitment achieved during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh in June, adding that since the issue does not worsen, there needs no "stronger words" against Myanmar.

When asked about a recent comment by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad on a possible expulsion of Myanmar from the ASEAN, Wirajuda said "the expression of Mahathir cannot be said asa collective wish of ASEAN."

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was detained on May 30 following clashes between her supporters and a pro-government mob that left a number of people dead.

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