EBO Burma News, 11 June 2003
News Summary:
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1. Bush, Thai leader demand
"immediate release" of Aung San Suu Kyi
2. Dr Mahathir: M'sia Wants Suu Kyi Released
3. ASEAN should give
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Bush, Thai leader demand
"immediate release" of Aung San Suu Kyi
Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra on Tuesday demanded the "immediate
release" of
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi by
said.
During a meeting here, the two leaders
"expressed their deep concern over
the recent developments in
May 30," when the activist was
arrested, said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer.
They further "agreed on the need for
immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi"
and members of her National League for
Democracy (NLD), said Fleischer, who
declined to comment specifically on the
possibility of stepped-up
As a result of renewing a
have prohibited new investment in
we extended for one year the national
emergency and associated sanctions with
respect to
"We have great concerns about the
actions that are being taken in
he added.
Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested in northern
between pro-government protesters and NLD
supporters.
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Dr Mahathir:
M'sia Wants Suu Kyi Released
PUTRAJAYA, June 10 (Bernama)
-- Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that
it has always been
Aung San Suu Kyi should be released from
detention by the country's military junta.
"We have made our stand known that
Aung San Suu Kyi is to be released
immediately," the Prime Minister told newsmen
after chairing the pre-Budget
2004 dialogue at the Ministry of Finance,
here Tuesday.
Dr Mahathir said
this when asked to comment on United Nations special envoy
Tan Sri Razali Ismail's meeting with Suu Kyi for an hour at the junta's
headquarters Tuesday.
On a question whether
he said, "I do not know...as to whether
we can apply sanction. We do not indulge
in that kind of pressure."
This recent development in
Dr Mahathir
added.
---------------------------------
ASEAN should give
International Herald Tribune
By Philip Bowring IHT
Shun the generals
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National
League for Democracy, is highly
embarrassing for ASEAN, the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, as its
members' foreign ministers prepare to meet their
counterparts from
in
For far too long ASEAN has made out that
difficulty. The official ASEAN attitude was summed
up recently by the association's
secretary-general, Ong Keng Yong of
tell your family member you cannot do this,
you cannot do that." If ASEAN is to
be more than an expression of geography and
mutual admiration, it needs to
show that it has some standards.
The common goals of ASEAN nations - such
as trade, enshrined in the ASEAN Free
Trade Area, and
cooperation on fighting disease and drug trafficking - require
confidence in one another's conduct and
institutions. Yet
behavioral norms common to Asian states, whether
they have liberal or
authoritarian political systems.
The latest crackdown on Aung San Suu Kyi
makes a mockery of well-meaning
attempts by ASEAN partners, notably
face for the UN's envoy to
finally permitted to meet with the opposition
leader on Tuesday morning.
would effectively freeze
economic and political affairs in a manner which
makes interstate cooperation
more viable.
Prime Minister Mahathir
bin Mohamad of Malaysia, who is soon to retire, could
go
out on a high note by using
Movement to demand
better conduct from
Thaksin Shinawatra
should heed the rising tide of criticism of his business-friendly
approach to
If ASEAN sends a strong message to
"interference"
in the internal affairs of a member state and even democratic
that the group will put up with behavior such as
democratic constituencies and leaving official
advocacy of open societies
in Western hands.
The latest suppression of
a surge of unrest caused by economic
problems. Much of the private banking
system has collapsed, as government directives
that loans be repaid and that
some accounts be frozen add to the already
chaotic condition of the economy.
The regime's promises to encourage a
market economy, much touted by ASEAN,
have come to little. There was a surge of
foreign investment, led by
but that has largely dried up. Some foreign
investment was a means by which
drug profits could be laundered for the
benefit of the generals and business
executives from other ASEAN member nations. This is
not an economy with which
the other members of ASEAN can or should
cooperate closely, let alone one such
as
ASEAN pressure may not have much practical
effect.
to get plenty of support from
more accommodating with
needs to show that it can be proactive and
positive. Its image has already suffered
this year when its current chair,
The Singapore-U.S. free trade pact is
unpopular with other members of the ASEAN
Free Trade Area. Regional peacemaking efforts, such as
those of the Malaysians
in
which ASEAN has played no part.
At the very least the other members should
tell
take over the chair of ASEAN soon, that it is
not fit to do so. If it wishes to be
a hermit state run by military thugs, that
may be its affair. But there is no reason
for others to accord it the dignity of
presiding over an international group.
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