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Myanmar poll to take center stage at summit
Myanmar’s upcoming elections will likely hog the spotlight at the 16th ASEAN Summit in Vietnam in April, as regional leaders try to steer clear of the junta’s poll agenda to avoid further embarrassment
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yanmar’s upcoming elections will likely hog the spotlight at the 16th ASEAN Summit in Vietnam in April, as regional leaders try to steer clear of the junta’s poll agenda to avoid further embarrassment.
The 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will convene in Hanoi from April 8 to April 9 with an agenda officials say will range from economic integration to political reforms in Myanmar, in which leaders will try to push the junta to allow opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to take part in the country’s elections.
Pressure has mounted for the military junta in Yangon to repeal electoral regulations prohibiting convicts to join political parties and run for office, and allow Suu Kyi to take part in the polls.
The poll date has not been announced, but it will be held before Suu Kyi’s house arrest is over.
The Nobel laureate is currently serving 18 months on charges of violating the terms of her previous stint under house arrest.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the country would push the demand that Suu Kyi be made part of the solution in Myanmar’s democratization.
“It is very important for all the parties concerned to be part of the solution; in other words, not to have a mindset that one party is being sidelined or pushed into a corner or pressed,” he said at a press conference last week.
“Everyone must see that they have a stake in an orderly democratization process.
“Suu Kyi’s role [in a future government] could be a positive one, and we hope very much that the authorities in Myanmar also see this.”
Jakarta has not announced its agenda in the ASEAN Summit, but officials say leaders will take stock of the development of the bloc’s economic, security and sociocultural integration under one ASEAN community by 2015, as well as the thorny issue of Myanmar.
In previous ASEAN Summits, Myanmar has always been one of the key issues in the agenda.
In July, ASEAN foreign ministers will convene for the 43rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting.
Observers say the Myanmar polls will be a turning point for which ASEAN will be judged by its
success in engaging the junta in democratization.
They add the Myanmar junta has for years been an embarrassment to ASEAN leaders, who are criticized by accommodating the interests of a rogue state.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Yasmin Sungkar said the exclusivity of Myanmar’s polls would not only hurt the democratization process of the country, but also impact on ASEAN integration.
“The success of Myanmar’s election depends much on its inclusiveness, but how the current leaders are allowing that to happen isn’t satisfactory,” she said.
“Democratization in Myanmar might have to wait.”
ASEAN leaders, particularly from democracies such as Indonesia and the Philippines, have issued several statements appealing for their Myanmar counterparts to quash Suu Kyi’s conviction and allow her to join the elections.
