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Reuters-Suu Kyi Seeks ASEAN Initiat



Subject: Reuters-Suu Kyi Seeks ASEAN Initiative On Myanmar Dialogue 

Suu Kyi Seeks ASEAN Initiative On Myanmar Dialogue
06:19 a.m. Jul 13, 1999 Eastern
BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) - Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
has called on the Association of South East Asian Nations to launch an
initiative encouraging dialogue between her National League for Democracy
and the ruling generals.

In a commentary published Tuesday in Thailand's The Nation newspaper, the
1991 Nobel Peace prize winner said ASEAN's ''constructive engagement'' of
the ruling military had failed and its policy of non-interference was an
excuse for not helping.

She said that while some countries were working toward democracy in Myanmar,
members of ASEAN were not. She said some ASEAN nations justified not helping
by arguing that democracy was a ``Western'' concept.

``We believe that support from ASEAN -- which comprises Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos and Vietnam and which
Burma (Myanmar) recently joined -- is crucial to our quest for democracy,''
Suu Kyi wrote.

``It is time for a new initiative on the part of the ASEAN members to
impress on the junta the need to open a dialogue with the NLD,'' she said.

The call came after a delegation from the European Union visited Myanmar
last week seeking ways to re-establish a dialogue with the military in the
interests of human rights and democracy.

It met government and opposition figures, including Suu Kyi, looking for
ways to encourage a dialogue between the opposition and the government.

Suu Kyi said her party had ``bent over backwards'' to make dialogue possible
with the military. ``But the military regime does not want dialogue because
they think it will be the beginning of the end for them,'' she said.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung appeared to pour cold water over the idea
of foreign mediation last week when he told Reuters Myanmar could solve its
own problems.

The government has insisted as a pre-condition to talks that the opposition
renounce a committee it established last year to represent a parliament
elected in Myanmar's last election.

Suu Kyi's party won the 1990 election by a landslide -- winning 392 of the
485 parliamentary seats -- but the generals never allowed parliament to
meet.

In her commentary, Suu Kyi called on ASEAN to put pressure on the military
to convene parliament.

She said there was a contradiction between ASEAN's policy of
non-interference and investment by its members in Myanmar, which she said
provided legitimacy and propped up the government.

She said human rights activists and many NLD members were languishing in
jail and the military continued to ``harass, intimidate and repress''
pro-democracy advocates.

She singled out Indonesia as the biggest ASEAN investor in Myanmar and said
it had been the generals' strongest supporter when it was seeking
international legitimacy through admission to ASEAN. Myanmar joined the
regional bloc two years ago.
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