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Free Suu Kyi: ASEAN

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE June 17. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) today ended its annual ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh on the unusual note of having taken cognisance of the internal political affairs of a member-state, Myanmar.

In the event, even as the ASEAN generally favoured an early settlement of the current crisis in Myanmar, at least one Foreign Minister remarked that the discussion on the issue — which centred on a call for the early release of the democracy campaigner, Aug San Suu Kyi — was "not imposed'' on the Myanmar Foreign Minister, who was said to have volunteered to explain his country's position.

The consensus was that Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council should be encouraged to release Ms. Suu Kyi as soon as possible, although the ASEAN Foreign Ministers did take cognisance of the Myanmar Foreign Minister, U Win Aung's position that the situation in his country should first become normal.

The ASEAN Ministers turned their attention to a host of other issues such as terrorism and the group's greater economic integration, as also the current state of the security dialogue within the ASEAN Regional Forum. On terrorism in South East Asia, the general trend of thinking among the Ministers was in favour of greater intra-regional cooperation to address the scourge. There was also a customary overview of the regional and international situations, this time in the context of the recent U.S. action in Iraq. No new formula or plan of action was suggested as a result of this discussion.

China's move to accede to the ASEAN's relevant treaty on amity and cooperation was welcomed, while similar moves by India and Russia were also taken note of. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting, slated to be held tomorrow, will be attended by the members of the association as also their dialogue partners, including the U.S., India and China besides Japan, insofar as security matters are concerned. The question of whether or not Pakistan should also be invited to the ARF, is expected to figure in some form or other in tomorrow's deliberations of the ARF.

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