ASEAN to step up pressure on Myanmar to free Suu Kyi

Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said ASEAN foreign ministers, who ended their week-long meetings here Friday, were disappointed that their Myanmar counterpart could not give a "timeline" for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from detention or implementing promised constitutional reforms.

Minister Win Aung, gave "half answers" and "was not forthcoming", Ople complained.

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"We were disappointed," he told reporters.

He said Myanmar should heed a call by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for an early release of its opposition leader because of pressure from across the globe, especially with the United States and European Union stepping up sanctions.

"We are actually trying to avoid a situation where Myanmar will be completely isolated from the international community and before they are economically crippled by these sanctions," Ople said.

He said ASEAN would send a ministerial mission to Myanmar to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi at an indefinite date.

"But certainly, the mission will be taking off and going to Myanmar before the October ASEAN leaders summit in Bali," he said. "We are accountable to our leaders."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, the new chairman of the policy-making ASEAN standing committee, is to lead and prepare the composition of the mission, Ople said.

The mission may be comprised of his counterparts from the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, he added.

The 10-member grouping also includes Brunei, Laos, and Singapore.

Preferably, the mission would like to meet with the opposition leader "as a free person so that she can talk to us without any restrictions," Ople said.

Ople said the visit would aim to speed up the tempo of constitutional reforms promised by Myanmar, "using the experience of the other ASEAN countries which have gone through a similar struggle" in their history.

Asked whether Myanmar would be expelled from ASEAN if it disregarded its call for Aung San Suu Kyi's early release, Ople said "that will be too drastic."

But he said the Myanmar issue could prod ASEAN to adopt a human rights code binding all governments.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar had suggested at the meetings here that ASEAN adopt a declaration on human rights, which would bind all member states, including their legislature and their courts.