BurmaNet News, July 25, 2006

[Editor]

July 25, 2006 Issue # 3011

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Students expelled from college for life
Khonumthung: Land confiscated for Buddhist monastery
VOA: Burma reported to have highest number of child soldiers in the world

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Raids reportedly shut down Myawaddy business

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Myanmar announces new gems auction
AFP: ASEAN urged to hasten economic integration

ASEAN
AP: ASEAN urges Myanmar to show 'tangible progress' on democracy, free
political prisoners
AFP: Southeast Asian ministers wrangle over Myanmar
AP: Southeast Asian countries ink pact on visa-free travel within region

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Junta tells UNSC it no longer conscripts children
AFP: NGOs slam Finland for inviting Myanmar to Asia-EU talks

OPINION / OTHER
Nation: Asean expected to turn up the heat on errant Burma

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
Students expelled from college for life

Four students from Henzada (Henthada), Irrawaddy Division in lower Burma,
had been expelled from their college for life, for paying homage to fallen
Burmese national heroes on Martyrs’ Day.

Sein Htay, Nay Sai Thu, Sein Than and Toe Thu Aung from local GTC went to
a pagoda on 19 July and offered flowers, candles and prayer for national
heroes including General Aung San who were assassinated on 19 July 1947.

Their religious activity was found out by township Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA) members and reported it to the college head
Zarni Lynn. Zarni Lynn went on to report the matter to technical education
minister U Thaung, and the students were expelled from their college by
the order of the latter.

When we contacted the college, a tutor who doesn’t want to be identified
confirmed that the report was correct.
____________________________________

July 25, Khonumthung News
Land confiscated for Buddhist monastery

The military junta in Burma has confiscated land for the construction of a
Buddhist monastery in Chin state bordering Sagaing Division.

About 13 acres of land (40 blocks) was confiscated in Tedim Township, Chin
state bordering Kalay Myo Town, Sagaing Division for the construction of a
Buddhist monastery–cum–orphanage. The confiscated land is situated in Chin
state’s Khai Kam  border village and is also called Koe Mai or Tai Kua,
and is nine miles from Kalay Myo town.

The military government issued an order for confiscation of the land and
construction of the monastery-cum-orphanage in January 2006, in keeping
with the wishes of the Buddhist Mission. No compensation was paid to the
owners of the land, our sources in Kalay Myo said.

A land owner told Khonumthung, “My family is not the only one losing land,
however, I feel bad as it is an extension of Buddhist land.”

The monastery-cum-orphanage will be built under the patronage of Colonel
Aung Myo Myint. The land confiscated is adjacent to Kalay University, in
Chin state.

Different kinds of education are imparted in the monastery-cum-orphanage
in accordance with Buddhist teachings. Various Chin orphans have been
reportedly admitted to this monastery-cum-orphanage.

Many Chin youths have also reportedly sought work in the
monastery-cum-orphanage. The orphans and workers of the
monastery-cum-orphanage have to convert to Buddhism prior to admission to
the institution, said our source.

____________________________________

July 25, VOA News
Burma reported to have highest number of child soldiers in the world

A U.S. diplomat says Burma is believed to have the largest number of child
soldiers in the world. A statement by the U.S. Alternative Representative
for Special Political Affairs to the UN Jackie W. Sanders said today the
U.S.-based group, Human Rights Watch, has documented the widespread forced
recruitment of boys as young as 11 years old by Burma's army.

The ambassador says many child soldiers in Burma are forced to fight and
commit abuses against ethnic minorities, whose armed opposition groups
also use children soldiers, but to a lesser degree.

In addition to Burma, the U.S. ambassador also singled out Southern Sudan,
Northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia as having
large numbers of children forced to take part in armed conflicts.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 25, Irrawaddy
Raids reportedly shut down Myawaddy business - Khun Sam

A series of raids and arrests in the Burmese-Thai border town of Myawaddy
has reportedly disrupted business life there.

Gold shops, general stores and virtually all export-import businesses were
shut down by security officials, who also reportedly arrested 21 local
businesspeople, including the president of the Myawaddy chamber of
commerce. They were reportedly charged with possessing illegal goods and
tax evasion.

There was no official confirmation of the raids and arrests, but a
Myawaddy resident told The Irrawaddy: “Every business, including import
and export, has shut down, as businesspeople are running away and their
stores are closing down. All goods including foods, electronic facilities
and household supplies imported from Thailand were confiscated as the
authorities raided stores, storerooms and shops.” Money exchanges were
also raided, he said.

More than 600 bicycles and several automobiles and motorcycles were
reportedly confiscated.

A businesswoman who runs a book store in the Thai-Burmese border town of
Mae Sot said a consignment of her books worth 300,000 kyat (US $23) had
been confiscated at the border.

Among the rumors circulating in Myawaddy in the absence of an official
account is a persistent report that the clampdown was ordered by the
junta’s number two, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye. It follows similar action
against Burmese custom officials on the Burmese-Chinese border in early
May.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 25, Agence France Presse
Myanmar announces new gems auction

Military-ruled Myanmar announced Tuesday that it would hold another gems
auction next month, just weeks after completing its largest-ever sale of
precious stones.

"The sales will be organized through the bargain and auction systems from
August 31 to September 1," the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper
said.

Buyers will be able to view the lots of jade and precious stones for three
days before the sales, it added.

The auctions began as bi-annual events but the cash-strapped government
has been holding more every year as a way to bring in desperately needed
foreign currency.

Officials refused to provide any details about the auction, which opens
just two months after the country sold 2,300 lots of jade in its biggest
sale to date.

Merchants at the last sale included some 1,450 foreigners, mainly from
China and Thailand.

Myanmar is one of the world's poorest nations and is subject to US and
European economic sanctions because of human rights abuses and the house
arrest of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened by the eagerness of
neighboring China, India and Thailand to tap Myanmar's vast natural wealth
to fuel their own growing economies.

Myanmar's natural wealth includes natural gas and minerals, as well as
highly-prized teak which often disappears onto the black market which is
estimated to be at least half the size of the formal economy.

____________________________________

July 25, Agence France Presse
ASEAN urged to hasten economic integration

Southeast Asia should speed up the integration of its diverse economies,
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Tuesday, a day after
the collapse of global trade talks.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which by 2015 aims to
abolish tariffs under a regional free-trade pact, must not return to the
past when the region was deeply divided along Cold War ideological lines,
he said.

"We have to move to become a true community because we cannot change our
geography," Abdullah told the 39th annual gathering of ASEAN foreign
ministers here.

"We should never allow our countries to be divided again as they once were
40 years ago."

Abdullah said ASEAN integration "can be the first line of defence against
regional economic crises" such as the one that hit Southeast Asia in 1997.

When ASEAN was formed in 1967, regional nations sat on opposite sides of
the ideological fence, with democracies like the Philippines and Thailand
ranged against communist nations like Vietnam.

Vietnam was admitted to ASEAN in 1995, followed by Cambodia in 1999.
ASEAN's predecessor, the Southeast Asian Treaty Organisation, was an
anti-communist alliance.

With all 10 Southeast Asian nations in its fold, ASEAN has embarked on an
ambitious plan to transform the region into a single market and
manufacturing base by 2020.

A key ingredient in this process is the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).

Under AFTA, tariffs on traded goods will be abolished by 2010 for
Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand, the
most developed nations of the group known collectively as the ASEAN 6.

Tariffs for the four poorer countries -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and
Vietnam -- will be ended by 2015

"After nearly four decades of evolution, ASEAN is now engaged in a crucial
stage of its development of transforming itself from being an association
since 1967 into an integrated and harmonious community by 2020," Abdullah
said.

"We must be steadfast in keeping our solidarity and remain focused on
achieving our common mission of fostering greater and greater regional
integration."

ASEAN is also negotiating separately to have free-trade agreements (FTAs)
with its dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea, hoping this will
become a catalyst for a wider East Asian free trade zone -- potentially
the biggest in the world.

Some ASEAN countries, notably Singapore, have signed FTAs with key trading
partners or are in the process of negotiating such deals.

Analysts have said that bilateral and regional free trade pacts will
mushroom with global trade talks in limbo.

A five-year global effort to liberalise world trade collapsed in acrimony
on Monday, driving a stake into lofty ambitions to free up global commerce
and help developing nations to climb out of poverty.

The collapse of talks among six key players from the 149-nation World
Trade Organisation drove its chief Pascal Lamy to recommend an indefinite
freeze in the faltering negotiations.

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 25, Associated Press
ASEAN urges Myanmar to show 'tangible progress' on democracy, free
political prisoners- Vijay Joshi

Southeast Asian countries Tuesday called on military-ruled Myanmar to show
"tangible progress" on democratic reforms, and urged it to free political
detainees an apparent reference to Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

However, the vague wording in a joint statement by the foreign ministers
reflected a lack of consensus in the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations to come down heavily on Myanmar, a member of the 10-country group.

"We expressed concern on the pace of the national reconciliation process
and hope to see tangible progress that would lead to peaceful transition
to democracy in the near future" in Myanmar, said a joint statement by the
ministers at the end of their annual meeting.

"We reiterated our calls for the early release of those placed under
detention and for effective dialogue with all parties concerned," it said.

The statement fell short of the forceful language used individually by
heavyweight countries in ASEAN, including Malaysia, who in recent months
have made clear their frustration with Myanmar's junta.

But Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar pointed out that ASEAN
works on consensus and cannot issue any document "without agreement of all
ASEAN members."

In other words, Myanmar forced the language of the communique to be
watered down.

Still, the Malaysian foreign minister claimed it expressed ASEAN's views
in "very clear terms" for the first time, although previous ASEAN
statements have used roughly the same wording.

Syed Hamid said Myanmar has given no timetable for implementing its
so-called road map to democracy, which critics dismiss as a sham and
delaying tactic.

The current junta came to power in 1998 and called elections in 1990 but
refused to honor the results that gave Suu Kyi's party a landslide
victory. Since then Suu Kyi has spent most of her time under house arrest.

Earlier Tuesday, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi chided
Myanmar, saying its behavior "is impacting upon the image and credibility"
of ASEAN.

"We would very much like to have Myanmar move forward with the rest of
ASEAN," he said in his opening address to foreign ministers' meeting.

But by the time the day-long meeting ended, the ministers appeared to go
soft on Myanmar.

"We acknowledge the difficulties Myanmar is facing in its domestic
reconciliation process," said Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo. "In
the end whatever happens there, the consequences will be borne by the
Myanmar people, so they need more space, they want more space. So we've
decided to give them more space," he said.

Syed Hamid said ASEAN is happy to let Myanmar deal with the United Nations
in pushing the reconciliation process if it wants. It is part of the
U.N.'s job and doesn't mean ASEAN is handing over its responsibility, he
said.

"Myanmar engaged is better than Myanmar isolated," he said.

But ASEAN's anguish was clearly articulated by Indonesian Foreign Minister
Hassan Wirajuda.

"On principle, we agree that Myanmar faces many problems. We hope Myanmar
makes progress so that it can engage with the international community," he
said.

____________________________________

July 25, Agence France Presse
Southeast Asian ministers wrangle over Myanmar - Sarah Stewart

Southeast Asian ministers on Tuesday wrangled over how to handle Myanmar's
refusal to embrace reforms, with intense debate over the wording of their
statement on their troublesome neighbour.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had been expected to
issue a strongly worded criticism on Myanmar in their communique at the
end of foreign ministers' talks here.

But an Indonesian senior official said Monday that some members --
believed to be the less-developed nations Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam --
had succeeded in a campaign for the statement to be toned down.

A mid-July draft of the communique obtained by AFP included a call for the
release of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition
figures in detention.

It also expressed "disappointment" that Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed
Hamid Albar was not permitted to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi when he
travelled to Yangon in March as ASEAN's envoy.

But later versions of the draft showed the entire passage in brackets,
indicating it was still under negotiation.

An official from an ASEAN country said Tuesday that the paragraphs on both
Myanmar and North Korea were still being debated as the ministers began
their full day of talks, after no agreement was reached at a dinner
Monday.

"The two main issues have been North Korea and Myanmar. The key now is
Myanmar," he told AFP.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Tuesday that the group
was urging Myanmar to take more tangible steps towards promised reforms.

"We are somewhat frustrated, to be frank with you, by the lack of
progress," he told reporters.

"They have tried to explain to us but we are not convinced."

Myanmar already faces heavy sanctions imposed by the United States and the
European Union, but Yeo said that ASEAN was not considering such punitive
measures.

"We are not talking about sanctions. It is not the ASEAN way. we will
continue to engage with Myanmar," he said.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said after Monday's dinner that they
had discussed a new approach on Myanmar, which has snubbed ASEAN's efforts
to push for democratic reforms and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The consensus of view is ASEAN needs to give Myanmar a bit more space,
but this also means that ASEAN cannot be defending Myanmar on all issues
at international forums," he told AFP.

"It's like a family member who is going through a difficult patch who
wants a bit more time to be on its own. And so we should lay off a little
bit, but still keep them in the family."

Yeo downplayed suggestions that ASEAN was completely giving up on its
efforts to push for change in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the
military for four decades.

"Not at all. That's the wrong word to use and it has got the wrong
emotional attachment," he said. "On all the other issues in ASEAN, which
is over 95 percent, we will continue to work together."

ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong said Monday that ministers would
decide this week whether to ask the United Nations to take over the job of
pushing for change in Myanmar.

"Myanmar has decided that the UN ought to be the most important agency
with which it interlocutes," said Yeo, noting that a UN envoy who visited
Yangon soon after Syed Hamid was given red-carpet treatment and a meeting
with Suu Kyi.

"In that distinction we must draw the appropriate conclusions that Myanmar
prefers to deal with the UN on some of these issues."

Myanmar's delegation has reportedly denied it is ignoring ASEAN in favour
of the United Nations, and defended its decision not to allow Syed Hamid
to see Aung San Suu Kyi or top junta leaders.

"It is not true. We have never snubbed ASEAN... We are very much part of
the family," Aung Bwa, the chief of Myanmar's ASEAN secretariat told the
New Straits Times.

____________________________________

July 25, Associated Press
Southeast Asian countries ink pact on visa-free travel within region

Southeast Asian countries Tuesday signed an agreement allowing their
citizens to travel within the region for up to two weeks without a visa.

Most of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
currently have bilateral agreements with some or all of the members of the
bloc allowing their citizens to visit without visas.

The ASEAN Framework Agreement on Visa Exemption grouped the bilateral
arrangements into a uniform rule, allowing people of the region to visit
ASEAN member nations for up to two weeks without a visa. It was signed by
the foreign ministers of ASEAN countries gathered here for an annual
meeting.

The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, aims
to "strengthen and further develop the friendship and cooperation in
ASEAN."

"Member countries ... shall exempt citizens of any other member countries,
holding valid national passports from visa requirements for a period of
stay up to 14 days from the date of entry," it said.

The accord will have the most impact on military-ruled Myanmar, which has
required citizens of every ASEAN country except the Philippines to have a
visa.

Vietnam has had visa exemption agreements with all ASEAN members except
Cambodia, Myanmar and Brunei. Citizens of other ASEAN countries are
allowed visa-free travel for up to 30 days.

Cambodia has required citizens of Brunei, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and
Vietnam to get a visa. Philippines is the only country in the regional
grouping prior to the agreement that did not ask for a visa from any
citizen of an ASEAN member nation.

ASEAN comprises Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, Myanmar and Vietnam.

According to the agreement, member countries have the right to refuse
admission or shorten the duration of stay of anyone "considered
undesirable," it said, a reference to people with criminal record or those
considered a political threat.

Member countries are also allowed to temporarily suspend the
implementation of the agreement for reasons of "national security, public
order, and public health," it said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 25, Irrawaddy
Junta tells UNSC it no longer conscripts children - Clive Parker

The Burmese government on Monday told a UN Security Council discussion on
children and armed conflict that it had taken “effective measures” to
prevent the recruitment of minors into the army, while drawing attention
to the persistence of the problem within the insurgency movement.

In a special session marking one year since the council passed resolution
1612, which attempts to promote greater compliance in tackling the problem
of child soldiers, Burmese ambassador to the UN, Kyaw Tint Swe, defended
the junta’s record. Burma has “an all-volunteer army and those entering
military service did so of their own free will,” the UN quoted him as
saying.

Addressing world governments and non-governmental organizations in New
York, Kyaw Tint Swe refuted allegations about the forced conscription of
minors, which he said came from exile groups and rebels opposing the
junta.

The Tatmadaw (Burma Army) has long been accused of forcibly recruiting
children to its 400,000-strong armed forces. In 2004, the London-based
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reported that the junta had in
some cases kidnapped children as young as 11, forcing them to serve in the
military. It estimated that up to 20 percent of Tatmadaw and ethnic
insurgency forces were under 18—the current legal age of
conscription—which would put the total number of child soldiers in Burma
at nearly 90,000, the highest of any country in the world.

The government subsequently created the Committee for the Prevention of
Military Recruitment of Under-age Children, which—among other
things—planned to discharge minors from the military. However, the UNSC
Briefing on Burma in December last year identified the Burmese army as one
of three military forces in the country that still recruited children,
along with the Karenni Army and the Karen National Liberation Army.

Welcoming efforts made by the junta, the briefing noted that “the
situation [in Burma] would be better served by a deeper engagement with
the United Nations (namely UNICEF) on the ground
to aid the committee’s
work.”

Kyaw Tint Swe on Thursday contended that it was “coordinating” with UNICEF
and promoting public awareness of the issue.

In a bid to solve the problem among the Karen and Karenni, UNICEF held
secret meetings along the Thai-Burma border last month, although both the
KA and KNLA remain on a UN blacklist.

In response, Karen National Union General Secretary Mahn Sha said that the
KNLA had not recruited child soldiers since 2000, but it was possible that
“low-level leaders” were not following orders from the top. The Karenni
National Progressive Party said that any minors attempting to enlist were
“sent to school.”

____________________________________

July 25, Agence France Presse
NGOs slam Finland for inviting Myanmar to Asia-EU talks

Human rights and pro-democracy groups including Amnesty International on
Tuesday condemned Finland's invitation of the Myanmar regime to an Asia-EU
summit to be held in Helsinki in September.

The Asia Europe People's Forum, an international network of
non-governmental organisations (NGOs), stressed Myanmar had been the
subject of both US and EU sanctions for the past decade due to the junta's
repeated human rights violations.

"Finland is known for defending human rights and promoting democracy and
therefore the invitation sent to Burma is a mystery," the network's
project coordinator in Helsinki, Anu Juvonen, said at a press conference.

NGOs refer to Burma, the country's previous name, because Myanmar is the
name given by the military junta.

Despite international pressure to secure the release of pro-democracy icon
and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, "the junta in Burma has
done nothing to deserve the invitation from the Finnish government,"
according to Koko Thett of the Finnish Asiatic Society.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 10 of the past 17 years under house arrest.

According to the NGOs, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
insisted that delegates from Myanmar attend the ASEM meeting, despite an
EU travel ban on members of the junta.

Myanmar has been a member of ASEAN since 1997, and officials from the
country have participated in previous Asia-EU meetings despite the travel
ban.

"The ASEAN countries say that integrating Burma will change it, which we
doubt," said Thett, who was critical that human rights did not even
feature on the meeting's official agenda.

The United States has imposed a complete ban on all exports to the regime.
The EU has adopted more targetted sanctions, including an embargo on arms
sales and investments in state-run companies.

The Finnish government confirmed an invitation had been extended to Myanmar.

"Burma or Myanmar was accepted as a member of the ASEM process in Hanoi in
2004 and therefore Myanmar is invited to the summit in Helsinki," Finnish
under-secretary of state Markus Lyra told AFP.

"There is a visa ban (within the EU) but we can make exceptions. There is
a consensus view on this in the EU," Lyra said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 24, The Nation
Asean expected to turn up the heat on errant Burma - Kavi Chongkittavorn

If everything goes as planned, the Asean joint communique to be issued at
the end of this week's ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur will contain a
paragraph expressing disappointment over the lack of progress on reform
inside Burma.

It will be the first time an Asean communique takes on a member in this
way. In previous communiques, Asean called on Burma, to no avail, to
release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. Amid growing
frustration, and lacking measures in its current code of conduct to
reprimand the pariah member, Asean leaders have resorted to all available
avenues to demonstrate their disapproval of Burma's recalcitrance and
absence of cooperative spirit.

Asean chairperson and Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar minced
no words when he commented that Asean has been held hostage by Burma.
Indeed, no Asean leader had previously ventured to articulate this
sentiment. As the meeting's host, Syed Hamid has already set the tone for
the discussion on Burma.

Last week Asean legislators also issued a strongly worded joint statement
after their two-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur. They bluntly told their
governments that Asean must accept responsibility for finding a political
solution as the grouping had agreed to admit Burma in 1997. They also
called on Asean to step up efforts to find political solutions through
"pressure and persuasion" and take concrete measures including the
reactivation of the troika mechanism.  They also instructed the Asean
secretary-general to closely monitor developments in Burma and report them
to Asean leaders.  "Such reports should aid Asean to craft pro-active
measures on Myanmar [Burma], including concerted engagement with China and
India on the issue," the statement reiterated.

Two key issues that will be highlighted by the Asean foreign ministers are
the organisation's position on the debate on Burma in the UN Security
Council and Burma's future in Asean. At this juncture, Asean does not have
a consensus on the Security Council's debate on its member. The
Philippines last December supported the US-led move to have an informal
briefing on Burma at the Security Council level, the only Asean member
that showed defiance. At present, Malaysia has shown willingness to
support the council's debate, but other Asean members are still in two
minds about it.

Of course, it is extremely difficult to get all of Asean's members to
support the Security Council's debate on Burma, even though the grouping's
efforts to bring about meaningful reform in the country have failed and it
is now time to invite the United Nations to push for changes.

It is interesting to note that while the West worked hard to put Burma on
the Security Council's agenda, the Burmese junta was on the offensive to
convince its immediate neighbours China, India and Thailand to oppose the
initiative. Bangkok was therefore caught in an awkward position, trying to
woo Burma on the one hand and trying to avoid upsetting the US on the
other. The ongoing political uncertainty did not help.

Fortunately, after a period of ambivalence, Bangkok indicated to
Washington recently that it would not do anything to jeopardise efforts to
put Burma on the council's agenda. Previously, Thailand said it would
block any such an attempt.

While most Asean members are no longer willing to defend Burma, they do
not want to further expose the ineffectiveness of the grouping's "peer
pressure" system at the highest UN level. Nor would they want to be
perceived as playing into US hands over Burma.

In addition, several Asean members do not want to antagonise China and
provoke its veto, knowing full well its strong support of the Burmese
regime. Beijing as well as Moscow has been opposing the efforts of
Washington and its allies. Given the current global focus on more drastic
international crises related to the Middle East, Iran and North Korea,
these members think the time is not ripe for such discussion anyway.

In recent months Asean Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong has called on China
and India to chip in on efforts to help ameliorate the situation in Burma.
Syed Hamid echoed Ong's call last week, saying that the two countries were
good friends of Burma and could sway its leaders towards democratic
reform. But these pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Indeed, it is hard to gauge the seriousness of Asean's pressure on the two
Asian giants on Burma. The grouping simply cannot do it without a strong
consensus on their perceived roles on Burma. In March 1995, Asean issued a
statement condemning China's action over Mischief Reef because all members
fully backed the call. In retrospect, it was the only time that Asean had
shown any defiance towards China.

The outcome of the Kuala Lumpur meeting this week will impact on the
discussion on Burma's future when Asean leaders converge in Cebu for the
12th summit in November. Despite ongoing political crisis, the Philippines
would like to see continuing democratisation among its members, especially
Burma. After years of lacklustre performance, President Gloria Arroyo, as
the summit's host, would like to assert her leadership in Asean as well.
Last week, Asean legislators have also signalled their strong support and
urged the Philippines to take the lead in exploring and advocating for
effective measures to spur democratic transition in Burma on top of the
Security Council debate.

A special document could be introduced by the Philippines to ensure that
Burma's future intransigence will not be tolerated and will be punished.
It would coincide with the completion of the Eminent Persons Group's
recommendations on the drafting of the Asean charter.

With Asean preparing for its 40th anniversary next year, core members want
the organisation to start afresh, without having to deal with a family
member that behaves like a black sheep.