Thursday, January 11, 2007 RP renews call for reform By Jim Gomez Associated Press Writer
FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said yesterday he met with his Myanmar counterpart and reiterated a call for the military-ruled nation to fulfill a promise to rapidly move to democracy.
Romulo’s meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win was held on the sidelines of an annual summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Cebu this weekend.
Asked if he renewed a long-standing call by other Asean members for Myanmar to push through with a roadmap to democracy, Romulo replied: “I repeated that.”
Romulo has praised efforts by the tiny military-ruled nation to draft a constitution but has stressed that its junta should do more.
He said he expected Nyan Win to brief counterparts when they met in a working dinner late last night to report on Myanmar’s reform efforts.
Efforts to prod Myanmar to democratize gained a new urgency Tuesday when the US Government introduced a United Nations resolution calling the deteriorating situation there a serious risk to regional peace.
The resolution urged Myanmar’s government to immediately free all political prisoners.
Washington faces an uphill struggle in winning Security Council approval of the draft because of opposition from China and Russia, both veto-wielding council members.
The council put Myanmar on its agenda on Sept. 15 over objections from Beijing and Moscow.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Myanmar should take the US-introduced UN resolution seriously and Asean should discuss the latest development.
Friendly relations
“That resolution is there already so I hope they take it seriously,” he told reporters in Cebu. “I haven’t had the chance to sit down with my Asean colleagues, (but) certainly it’s something that is of importance for Asean to discuss.”
Myanmar’s ambassador to Manila, Thaung Tun, said late Monday his country has friendly relations with its neighbors and has been struggling to build a stronger economy and foster national unity.
“It bears to be repeated that Myanmar is a peace-loving nation and poses no threat to its neighbors or the region,” Thaung Tun told diplomats in Manila.
Western nations and fellow Asean members have long expressed concern over Myanmar’s dismal human rights record. Some Asean members like Malaysia have lately become more blunt in their criticism, urging the junta to show “tangible progress” in its promise to democratize.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, and the current group of generals took power in 1988. They called elections in 1990 but refused to recognize the results when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won a resounding victory.
Asean’s members are Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (AP)
