T

he Indonesian government and public on Tuesday strongly condemned a Myanmar court verdict sentencing democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi to another 18 months of house arrest, after she was found guilty of allowing an American to enter her closely guarded house.

"The government of Indonesia is strongly disappointed with the verdict handed down to Aung San Suu Kyi," Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told The Jakarta Post.

"The length of the sentence was apparently aimed at preventing Suu Kyi from taking part in next year's elections. The verdict leads to suspicions that the coming election will not be inclusive and far from credible."

The court handed down a three-year prison term for violation of an internal security law, but that was immediately halved on the orders of the military government, which said the Nobel peace laureate could serve the time in her Yangon home.

John Yettaw, a US citizen living in Myanmar, swam to Suu Kyi's lakeside home in May and stayed there uninvited for two days, which breached the terms of her house arrest.

Yettaw was sentenced to seven years' hard labor on three charges, including immigration offenses and "swimming in a non-swimming area".

"The verdict is also bizarre in that the police officer guarding her house, who should be considered the one most responsible for the incident, wasn't part of the legal process," Faizasyah said.

Legislator Theo L. Sambuaga called on the Indonesian government to urge the Myanmar junta to review the verdict, saying the "trumped-up charges" would hurt ASEAN's image on the international stage.

"If Myanmar refuses to review its verdict, there will be a big question over the credibility of next year's election there," said the chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission I, which oversees foreign and defense affairs.

"And so we want the Indonesian government and ASEAN to ratchet up pressure on Myanmar over its decision that is almost certain aimed at blocking Suu Kyi's participation in the upcoming election."

Bantarto Bandoro, chairman of the Indonesian Institution for Strategic Studies, said the verdict was a sign the junta was not ready to allow Suu Kyi to take part in next year's election over fears her party might win.

"The junta wants the status quo, and so they orchestrated things to bar Suu Kyi from the elections," he said.

Rafendi Djamin, coordinator for Human Rights Watch Group, concurred.

"The verdict may have been made with a view to next year's election, which is crucial for Myanmar as it seeks international acknowledgement for democracy credentials," he said.

"If the international community accepts the results of the upcoming elections, Myanmar will be able to hold the ASEAN chairmanship."

Myanmar was denied the chairmanship of the Southeast Asian regional grouping, pending the democracy and human rights progress in the country led by the military junta since the 1960s.