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INDONESIA PROTESTS AGAINST SUU KYI DETENTION
Manila, Antara News, 29 May 2008
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda on Wednesday deplored the Myanmar junta's decision to extend the detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"We regret it because at least on the part of Indonesia and ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), we collectively, since 2003, demanded the Myanmar government to release Madame Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners," said Wirajuda at the end of a three-day visit to the Philippines.
"The decision to extend the detention of Madame Aung San Suu Kyi is very much against the spirit of cooperation," he was quoted by AFP as telling reporters. "This is also against the goodwill of the international community."
The military junta in Myanmar on Tuesday informed the opposition leader that she would spend yet another year under house arrest at her dilapidated lakeside home in Yangon, her prison for most of the last 18 years.
Myanmar, like Indonesia, is a member of ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
ASEAN has been accused of failing to act against the authoritarian regime in Myanmar, though the group says it is trying to influence Myanmar to open up. |
