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Burma to take its place in regional



Subject: Burma to take its place in regional forum.


		Burma to take its place in regional forum
		*****************************************

	Australia has endorsed the entry of Burma into the ASEAN Regional 
Forum and Rangoon is expected to be formally welcomed into the group at 
the forum meeting in Jakarta this week.

	Burma will also be admitted formally to observer status with the 
seven-member Association of South-East Asian Nations this week.
	
	The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, said senior 
officials from the 19-member forum, of which Australia is a founding 
member, had already agreed to expand membership to include Burma and India.

	He said no objections had been raised to including Burma despite 
criticism of Burma's human-rights record from forum member nations such 
as the United States.

	"After the senior officials' decision, we still made sure that 
the foreign ministers (of the member nations) got it in black and white. 
We circulated letters asking for reconfirmation of the decision and up 
until now we have only received explicit reconfirmation or no 
objections," he said.

	Me Alatas confirmed that the US had sent a special envoy to ASEAN 
nations to "share the views of the US on Burma" but Washington had made 
no request to have Burma excluded from the forum.

	Mr Altas also announced that Burma would be formally admitted as 
an observer to ASEAN. Previously Burma was able to attend meeting only as 
the guest of the host nation.

	The Indoesian Foreign Minister, who chair the ASEAN talks, 
brushed off potential controversy over Burma's role in the forum saying: 
"You would agree with me that it is the right of the ASEAN as an 
independent and authentic sub-regional grouping to decide who it will 
accept as observers."

	"Other countries have the full right to have their views but I 
hope they, too, will understand that this is our organisation, not 
theirs, and that they will accept that we are adult enough to decide who 
we want to have in it."

	Mr Alatas reiterated ASEAN's basic position which was 
non-interference in the international affairs of other nations, referring 
specifically to Burma.

	He also confirmed that the heads of state of the ASEAN nations 
had received a letter from the Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu 
Kyi, who has appealed for the international isolation of Burma.

	Mr Alatas said he could not yet comment on the content as the 
letter had only just been received and passed to Indonesia's President 
Suharto.

[Louise Williams, Jakarta, 17 July 1996].

__________________________________________________________________________


		The Letter from Aung San Suu Kyi to ASEAN
		*****************************************

	The Burmese opposition leader, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, has written 
to ASEAN heads of government in the lead-up to this week's ASEAN 
ministerial meeting at which Rangoon will formally be admitted as an 
official observer.

	Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, acknowledged receipt 
of the letter yesterday but declined to reveal its contents.

	Instead, Mr Alatas reiterated ASEAN's position of constructive 
engagement and confirmed that Burma, together with India would be 
admitted as a full member of the ASEAN Regional Forum at this year's meeting.

	Burma is expected to become a full member of ASEAN before the end 
of the decade.

	In response to questions, Mr Alatas denied Washington had tried 
to put pressure on ASEAN to exclude Burma from the ARF.

	The US and other like-minded countries including Australia have 
sought to limit contacts with the military-led government in Rangoon 
until Burma improves its human rights record.

	At a briefing in the lead-up to this week's ministerial meeting, 
Mr Alatas said that India, Russia and China would be included as ASEAN 
dialogue partners for the first time.

	Burma will be the fourth country to be given observer status by 
ASEAN following Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, and Laos.

	The ASEAN ministerial meeting commencing on Saturday will precede 
consultations between ASEAN and its dialogue partners and will be 
followed by the third ARF meeting.

	The ARF now has a membership of 21 countries including the seven 
ASEAN States.

	This format for this year's meetings with ASEAN's 10 dialogue 
partners has been changed with only one ASEAN minister now representing 
the session with a dialogue partner.

	Meanwhile in Jakarta yesterday, about 800 red-shirted 
demonstrators blocked traffic on one of the main thoroughfares in support 
of the ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Mrs 
Megawati Sukarnoputri.

	The protesters gathered outside the National Election Institute 
to protest against the Government's support for the new leadership of the 
PDI led by Mr Suryadi, who have been given the go-ahead to select PDI 
candidates for next year's general election.

	"We are protesting because the Government has given the election 
campaign papers to Suryadi, but Megawati is still the legal leader of the 
PDI," said a spokenman for the Megawati camp.

	Traffic was held up on Jalan Iman Bonjol for more than an hour 
until the demonstrators dispersed peacefully and returned to the central 
PDI headquarters less than a kilometre away.

[Patrick Walters, Jakarta, 16 July 1996].

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