Myanmar gov't says no time frame for releasing Suu Kyi

0 Comments | Asian Political News, July 28, 2003

JAKARTA, July 27 Kyodo

Visiting Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said Sunday his government has no schedule for releasing detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi despite international pressure seeking her immediate release.

''We will announce (her release) when the time comes, (but) I can't see (any) time frame right now,'' Win Aung told a small group of journalists upon his arrival in Jakarta to meet his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda and President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Win Aung is expected to explain to them the policy taken by the Myanmar government to arrest Suu Kyi.

''We are going to discuss matters of mutual interest to us,'' he added.

Myanmar's junta has been detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and some members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) since May 30 following what the junta claimed were violent clashes between NLD supporters and pro-junta demonstrators in northern Myanmar.

Asked to comment on a ''road map'' for democracy in Myanmar proposed by Thailand, Win Aung only commented, ''We're going to discuss it.''

Thailand has proposed to Indonesia as chairman of the 10-member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to set up a working group to help Myanmar formulate a plan toward democratization and reconciliation in the country.

ASEAN held a meeting this week on the sidelines of the fifth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of foreign ministers on the Indonesian resort island of Bali to decide their common position on the Myanmar issue.

The ASEM foreign ministers later issued a chair's statement calling on Myanmar to immediately release Suu Kyi and other NLD members and ensure them freedom of political activities.

They also called on Myanmar to resume its efforts toward national reconciliation and democracy.