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The Times of India -- Dec. 11, 98



<bold>Myanmar still thorn in the side of ASEAN 

</bold>

	By Stephen Collinson 


	BANGKOK: ASEAN admitted Myanmar with high hopes that gentle

	persuasion would spur political reform, but 18 months on the junta's

               battle with Aung San Suu Kyi still threatens the group's
fragile unity.


               Next week's summit of the Association of South East Asian
Nations

               in Hanoi is the group's first major conference since the
agenda of

               July's foreign minister's meeting with dialogue partners
in Manila

               was hijacked by Myanmar's political turmoil. 


               ASEAN officials will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the
row which

               erupted as National League for Democracy leader (NLD) Aung
San

               Suu Kyi was locked in a roadside standoff with Myanmar
security

               forces. 


               Her battle of wills provoked angry condemnation of the
junta from

               some members and western partners, shattering ASEAN's
tradition

               of conciliation and consensus. 


               The episode strained the fault- lines of the group's
sacred code of

               non-interference in each other's affairs as Thailand
promoted

               proposals for ``flexible engagement'' to allow members to
criticise

               one another. 


               Thailand's plan has been watered down by ASEAN to
``enhanced

               interaction,'' but observers say Myanmar is still one of
the group's

               most divisive problems. 


               Diplomats say the junta is unlikely to be impressed by the
rationale

               behind ``enhanced interaction,'' as explained in an
interview with

               AFP by Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan. 


               ``You are where you are, but you don't expect everybody to
endorse

               everything that you do,'' Surin spelled out. ``We are what
we are, but

               don't take us wrong that we are trying to take our own
direction,

               walk our own way.'' 


               Myanmar will be represented at the summit by Than Shwe,
senior

               general of the junta. The meeting also sees the debut on
the

               international stage of new Foreign Minister Win Aung,
appointed in a

               cabinet reshuffle last month. 


               Win Aung honed his presentational skills facing down some
of the

               junta's severest critics in a spell as ambassador to
London. 


               A protege of military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, he is
regarded in

               Yangon as better equipped to steer Myanmar through
sometimes

               delicate ASEAN meetings than his rigid predecessor Ohn
Gyaw. 


               However, few observers believe he will tone down
Myanmar's

               habitual fierce defence of sovereignty and defiance of
accusations of

               human rights abuses. ``Though more able, these people are
selling

               the same old product, and are still defending the same
old

               dictatorship and its bankrupt policy,'' said one
Yangon-based

               diplomat. Ministers tell visitors to Yangon they are happy
with

               ASEAN membership so far. 


               The government was ``of the view that we could not stay
aloof, we

               have to be in the mainstream of the international arena,''
Nyunt

               Maung Shein, director-general of the foreign ministry's
political

               department, told AFP. But diplomats say Myanmar is in
reality

               dismayed that due to the Asian financial crisis,
investment links

               with ASEAN have all but dried up. (AFP)