NEWS - ASEAN Urged to Condemn Myanm

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

ASEAN Urged to Condemn Myanmar on Arrests

            Reuters
            11-AUG-98

            KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Reuters)- The ASEAN regional forum
            should demand the release of 11 ASEAN nationals held in
Myanmar
            and condemn Yangon for arresting the pro-democracy
activists,
            Malaysian opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said on Tuesday. 

            Lim, the secretary-general of the opposition Democratic
Action Party,
            said ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino should travel
to the
            Myanmar capital Yangon to press for their release. 

            Myanmar police detained six Americans, an Australian, three
Thais,
            three Malaysians, three Indonesians and two Philippine
citizens on
            Sunday for distributing thousands of leaflets urging people
to
            remember a pro-democracy uprising 10 years ago. 

            A Jakarta Post correspondent, R. Fadjri, was among those
arrested,
            the Jakarta Post said on Tuesday. 

            Fadjri, also a reporter DR magazine based in Yogyakarta,
Indonesia,
            was in Myanmar to participate in a series of activities to
promote
            freedom of expression, the newspaper said. 

            ``Mr Fadjri had gone to Thailand to take part in a series of
activities to
            promote freedom of expression, which is universally accepted
as a
            prerequisite for democracy. His presence in Myanmar was part
of that
            campaign,'' said Jakarta Post in a letter delivered to the
Myanmar
            embassy in Jakarta. 

            Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia are among nine members of
the
            Association of South East Asian Nations. ASEAN also groups
Brunei,
            Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

            A Philippine Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday the
Philippines
            was studying the possibility of a joint approach by ASEAN
states to
            Myanmar on the problem of the detained activists. 

            ASEAN members have always refrained from publicly
criticising each
            other. 

            Malaysia's Foreign Ministry said its embassy in Yangon on
Tuesday
            sought consular access to its three nationals. 

            ``But we are still waiting to hear from the authorities on
when we can
            see the Malaysians,'' a ministry official told Reuters. 

            He said no charges had been laid against the three
Malaysians-- Ong
            Ju Lin, 27, Chong Kok Wei, 27, and See Chee How, 34. 

            Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said in Bangkok that he
thought
            the 18 activists, detained after handing out thousands of
leaflets at
            Yangon tourist sites, might be charged. 

            But a government spokesman declined to confirm rumours that
the
            activists would be tried, saying only that ``the legal
process is
            underway and (it would) be premature to give comment on the
            outcome at this moment.'' 

            Malaysian opposition leader Lim also demanded that Myanmar's
            military junta stop harrassing the opposition led by Nobel
laureate
            Aung San Suu Kyi. 

            ``A government which is afraid of name-card-size goodwill
messages
            to the people of Burma (Myanmar) is sorely lacking
popularity and
            legitimacy,'' Lim said. 

            Activists said they handed out about 10,000 red, palm-sized
leaflets
            reminding the Myanmar people not to forget a crackdown on
            opposition demonstrators 10 years ago. The leaflets carried
the
            message: ``8888-- Don't forget-- Don't give up.'' 

            On August 8, 1988, soldiers fired on a pro-democracy
demonstration
            near Yangon city hall, killing many civilians. Opposition
supporters say
            thousands of people died in the unrest that followed. The
military put
            the death toll at a few dozen.