JAKARTA, July 15 -- Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas reaffirmed Monday the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will continue its policy of constructive engagement toward Burma, and strongly opposed the isolation of Rangoon, as suggested by some Western countries. Alatas, who is chairman of the ASEAN standing committee, said ASEAN adopted a so-called constructive engagement policy toward Myanmar several years ago, but he declined to go into further details.
But, Alatas said, ASEAN realizes the situation in Myanmar needs to be resolved by the Myanmarese people themselves. 'We knew there were some problems in the country, but we thought the best way to approach them was not through a proposal made...by some Western country, the applicaiton of economic sanctions or by isolating it,' Alatas said. 'But rather we decided on constructive engagement.' Burma came under international criticism for that country's military- junta handling of the famous political leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Some western countries, including the United States, urged international economic sanction against Burma and keeping the country out of ASEAN. Suu Kyi supported an international economic embargo as well as the exclusion of Burma from ASEAN, but that was strongly opposed by the grouping nations in the region. Alatas said Burma will become a new ASEAN observer at the upcoming ministerial meeting along with Cambodia, Laos and Papua New Guinea on July 20-21 in Jakarta, which will be followed by the ASIAN Regional Forum on July 23.
