November 28, 2004 - 8:15 AM

ASEAN wants Myanmar membership stripped

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Myanmar should not be allowed to take over as chairman of the ASEAN group of
nations and its membership should be suspended due to the lack of progress towards democracy, lawmakers in the
region have said.

Myanmar's scheduled assumption of the chairmanship in 2006, "would be severely detrimental to the interests of
ASEAN", parliamentarians of The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) said in a statement issued on
Sunday at the end of a two-day meeting in Malaysia.

"Unless progress towards...democratic reforms in Myanmar is evident forthwith, we strongly urge that ASEAN bar
Myanmar from serving as chairman of ASEAN and immediately review Myanmar's membership with a view of
suspending Myanmar as a member," the statement said.

The recommendations are not binding on the 10-member group, which holds a summit meeting in Vientiane, Laos,
on Monday.

Malaysia's member of parliament and lawyer Zaid Ibrahim said Southeast Asian government leaders should take the
opportunity to speak out on Myanmar during the summit.

"It is our view the governments have been soft for too long, you're not going to get anything from the military," he said.

The lawmakers are also planning to visit Myanmar and seek a meeting with its ruling generals.

With its policy of non-interference in internal national affairs, ASEAN has consistently ducked the issue of military
rule in the former Burma, even though Yangon's reclusive generals are an increasing embarrassment.

However, the purge last month of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who presented ASEAN with the seven-stage
"roadmap" to democracy in 2003, has worried southeast Asian governments, who are staking reform hopes on a
policy of "constructive engagement" with Yangon.

Many of ASEAN's other members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam
and the Phillippines -- have criticised some of the junta's actions, especially the detention of opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi.