Jakarta
(The Jakarta Post/ANN) - The ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC)
called on current ASEAN chair Indonesia to delay agreeing on Myanmar becoming
ASEAN chair in 2014 until the country showed real progress in democratization.
Observers and stakeholders are speculating
that during the ASEAN summit in Bali next month, ASEAN leaders will agree to
grant Myanmar the grouping's chair.
The AIPMC said in a press conference in
Jakarta on Tuesday that it supported a call from the Burma Partnership, which
represents Myanmarese civil society, that Indonesia should play a more active
role in encouraging further reform in Myanmar.
"The AIPMC and the Indonesian House of
Representatives' foreign affairs commission will ask Foreign Minister Marty
Natalegawa to lobby other ASEAN countries to suspend the decision during the
upcoming ASEAN meeting to give time to the ruling government in Myanmar to make
more progress at home," AIPMC executive director Agung Putri Astrid said.
During the press conference, Burma Partnership
coordinator Khin Ohmar said the pro-democracy movement was still running in
place, as Myanmar, under President Thein Sein's democratically elected
government, had yet to achieve significant progress in democracy.
She said civil society had not seen continued
progress in Myanmar, and the recent release of 220 political prisoners was
perceived as "lipstick" to attract attention from ASEAN and the rest
of the world.
"The government has to work hard to
promote better democracy at home because the real power is held not by the
elected president but is in the hands of the eight-member National Security
Council, which is controlled by the former military junta leader, Tan Shwe, and
several other Army generals.
"The government also has to release more
than 18,000 political prisoners and stop the atrocities against minorities such
as Kareen and Katchin," she said.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, a caucus member and
legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, said suspending the
decision would give Myanmar two years to show its political commitment to
developing a true democracy and for ASEAN to assess the country's progress.
According to her, ASEAN should not abruptly
make the decision despite the fact that Myanmar was gradually distancing from
its patron country, China.
"Myanmar should be given time to show
ASEAN and the international world its sincerity in running a democratic
government."
She added that the foreign minister should
meet all the stakeholders in Myanmar, including ethnic leaders, in his next
visit to assess the Myanmarese government's democratic progress.
Lily Chadidjah Wahid, another caucus member,
said the AIPMC would bring the Burma Partnership's report and recommendations
to the hearing between House's Commission I on information, defense and foreign
affairs and the foreign minister on Tuesday afternoon.
Ridwan Max Sijabat in Jakarta/The Jakarta Post
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