T

he police on Wednesday banned an international meeting organized by members of the Burmese (Myanmarese) government-in-exile in Jakarta despite Indonesia's call for ASEAN to question the military junta's action against Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

On Tuesday, a Myanmar court handed down a verdict stipulating Suu Kyi must undergo another 18 months of house arrest after being found guilty of allowing a United States citizen to stay in her house.

The two-day meeting is aimed at seeking international support for reforms in Myanmar, who refused to acknowledge the landslide victory of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in the 1990 elections.

But Foreign Ministry spokes-man Teuku Faizasyah said Indonesia did not recognize any government in exile and the ban was not made upon the Myanmar Embassy's request.

"We cannot issue permits for political activities of the government in exile in our sovereign area... whoever it is. It is the matter of principle and not made upon request of the embassy."

Thaung H. Tun, the representative of the Burmese government in exile at the UN, said he did not think the Indonesian government would issue the ban, considering that Indonesia had supported efforts to restore democracy in Myanmar.

While responding to the military junta's action, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on the ASEAN to question the Myanmarese government over its decision to extend house arrest to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"As part of Myanmar's promise of a road to democracy, I say Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy *NLD* should be part of an election process *next year*," President Yudhoyono told reporters Wednesday at the State Palace.

"The world will definitely question *a court verdict on Suu Kyi*, and it will be hard to understand if that *verdict* is Myanmar political's decision."

Yudhoyono said Myanmar's 2010 election would be deemed "democratic, inclusive and credible" only if Suu Kyi and the NLD took part.

Therefore, he said he was asking the ASEAN chairman and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to organize a foreign ministerial meeting to discuss this issue.