Statements

ASEAN Chairman’s Statement on Myanmar, 18 May 2009, Bangkok

May 19, 2009 Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Thailand, as the ASEAN Chair, expresses grave concern about recent developments relating to Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, given her fragile health. In this connection, the Government of the Union of
Myanmar is reminded that the ASEAN Leaders had called for the immediate release of Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi. Furthermore, the Government of the Union of Myanmar, as a responsible member of
ASEAN, has the responsibility to protect and promote human rights. It is therefore called upon to
provide timely and adequate medical care to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as well as to accord her humane
treatment with dignity. With the eyes of the international community on Myanmar at present, the
honour and the credibility of the Government of the Union of Myanmar are at stake. Thailand, as the
ASEAN Chair, reaffirms ASEAN’s readiness to contribute constructively to the national reconciliation
process and the peaceful transition of democracy in Myanmar.

Foreign Minister gave interview on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial
May 21, 2009 Ministry of Foreign Affairs

On 20 May 2009 at 19.30 hours, Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs gave a press interview
concerning Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial. Gist as follows:

First, the Foreign Minister commended the Government of Myanmar for inviting members of the
diplomatic corps as well as the media to attend the trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi today (20 May).

Second, the Foreign Minister further added that three representatives from the embassies of
Thailand, as Chair of the ASEAN; Singapore, as dean of the diplomatic corps to Myanmar; and Russia,
as a member of the United Nations Security Council; were invited to visit Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at
her accommodation inside the Insein compound following the proceedings. The representative from the
Thai embassy conveyed Foreign Minister Kasit’s concern over her health, of which the Foreign
Minister is pleased to learn that she was well. Moreover, the Thai representative reiterated Thailand’s
wish to see peace, reconciliation, and democracy in Myanmar including the release of all political
detainees, as reflected in interviews given by both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister as well
as the statement recently issued by Thailand as Chair of the ASEAN.

The Foreign Minister noted that the Thai Ambassador to Myanmar will meet with Myanmar’s
Foreign Minister tomorrow (21 May) and that the Foreign Minister himself will have several
opportunities to meet with his Myanmar counterpart during the 9th Asia-Europe Foreign Ministerial
Meeting (FMM9) in Hanoi as well as the 17th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh to
further discuss the situation in Myanmar.

While it is encouraging that the Myanmar Government had allowed members of the diplomatic
corps and the media to attend the hearings as well as arranged for the meeting with Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, Thailand hoped that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political detainees would be released, thus
contributing towards the process of national reconciliation and democratization in Myanmar.

News

Abhisit calls on Burmese junta to release Suu Kyi

May 20, 2009 The Nation

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva - as chairman of Asean-has issued a statement calling again for
immediate release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose trial continued yesterday
for violation of the house arrest conditions.
 "The government of the Union of Myanmar [Burma] is reminded that the Asean leaders had
called for the immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," said the statement issued late Monday.
Aung San Suu Kyi, together with two companions and an American John Yettaw-who swam
across the Inya lake to her residence-are being tried in a special court in the notorious Insein prison for
the second day.
If the court convicts Suu Kyi, she would face five years' imprisonment, an automatic extension
of the term in detention she received in 2003.
The international community has expressed concern over the case and the US has renewed its
sanctions against the junta.
Senior officials of Asean met on Monday and yesterday in Phuket to seek a common stance, but
a concrete solution cannot be expected, say observers.
The latest statement by Prime Minister Abhisit also expressed grave concern for Aung San Suu
Kyi's situation, given her fragile health, and called on the junta to provide timely and adequate medical
care for her.
Burma, as a responsible member of Asean, has the responsibility to protect and promote human
rights, the statement said.
With the eyes of the international community on Burma, the honour and credibility of its
government are at stake, it said.
"We hope Myanmar will listen to other Asean colleagues and...Asean is ready to contribute
constructively to the national reconciliation process and the peaceful transition to democracy," Prime
Minister Abhisit said.
However the regional grouping and neighbouring Thailand would not take any tough action or
set a deadline for the junta to comply, he said.

Asean joins calls for Suu Kyi's release

May 20, 2009 Bangkok Post

Burma's credibility at stake, says Abhisit

Thailand, as chair of Asean, has added its voice to calls for the immediate release of Burmese
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Burma's ruling junta is apparently rushing Mrs Suu Kyi's trial so she could be handed a jail
sentence as early as next week. The Thai and Asean call is an attempt to prevent that.
"The Government of the Union of Myanmar [Burma] is reminded that the Asean leaders have
called for the immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," the statement from Asean said.
The statement was issued after senior Asean officials discussed the matter at talks held in Phuket
on Monday.
Thailand used the statement to express its "grave concern" about Mrs Suu Kyi's situation given
her fragile health.
Burma's democracy icon has been on trial since Monday for breaking house arrest rules. Her six-
year house detention sentence is due to expire next Wednesday.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday Thailand was closely monitoring developments
in Burma in the hope it would heed Asean's call. But Thailand had no plan to impose a deadline over
the issue.
He said Asean had shown its readiness to "contribute constructively to the
national reconciliation process and the peaceful transition of democracy" in Burma, and warned the
Burmese regime that its credibility was now at stake.
But Aung Naing Oo, a Chiang Mai-based Burmese political analyst, was sceptical about the
likely impact of the Asean statement.
The member states held no sway over the country's political reforms, the former student leader
said. With China and India remaining silent on the issue, the Burmese junta had no reason to soften its
stance on detaining Mrs Suu Kyi.
Asean and Thailand should do more than just call for her immediate release, said Win Min, a
professor at the All Ethnic International Open University Programme at Chiang Mai University.
"Asean should tell the ruling State Peace and Development Council that it would be difficult or
impossible to support the 2010 elections unless Mrs Suu Kyi was released and the election process was
inclusive for her party," he said.
Yesterday, five witnesses - including four police officers who said they arrested American John
Yettaw after he spent two days at Mrs Suu Kyi's lakeside house - gave evidence at the closed-door
trial being held at Insein prison.
"They are trying to finish [the trial] as soon as possible," Nyan Win, the spokesman for Mrs Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), told reporters.
Nyan Win said the trial could be finished by as early as next week.
He said the prosecution was expected to call 22 witnesses, all but one of whom are police. The
senior officer who filed the original complaint against Mrs Suu Kyi testified on Monday.
Critics say the military regime has trumped up the charges to keep Mrs Suu Kyi locked up during
elections due next year, and also to beat the May 27 deadline when her latest six-year period of
detention expires.
Mrs Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention, most of them under house arrest at
her residence.
Mr Yettaw and two of Mrs Suu Kyi's female political aides, who live at the house, are also on
trial at the jail.
"The witnesses described the situation when they arrested him. They said they watched him as he
swam and at first they thought he was a thief," Nyan Win said, recounting the testimony by the four
policemen yesterday."But they said that they knew as soon as he came to the bank of the lake that he
was a foreigner. Then they took him to the special branch."

Diplomats granted access to Suu Kyi

May 20, 2009 Bangkok Post

Burma opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi was unexpectedly allowed to speak to diplomats at her
internationally condemned trial yesterday and expressed hope for "better days" in the future.
Mrs Suu Kyi smiled and looked healthy as she thanked envoys for coming to Insein prison in her
first public comments since the ruling junta charged her last week with breaching her house arrest, an
AFP reporter inside the court said.
"Thank you very much for coming and for your support," the 63-year-old, wearing pink Burmese
traditional dress, said inside the courtroom at the end of the third day of the trial.
"I can't meet you one by one, but I hope to meet you all in better days."
Mrs Suu Kyi then met the ambassadors of Singapore and Russia and a senior diplomat from
Thailand at the so-called "guest house" inside the prison compound where she is being held.
Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya quoted the Thai diplomat who met the Burmese opposition
leader as saying she was in good health and expressed hope to work with the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations one day.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate told the envoys she "did not wish to use the intrusion into her
home as a way to get at the Burma authorities" and expressed hope for "national reconciliation if all
parties so wished", the Singapore government said.
"She also expressed the view that it was not too late for something good to come out of this
unfortunate incident."
Mr Kasit praised the Burmese government for allowing the diplomats to meet her and witness the
trial but said the positive signs should not end there.
The Burmese government should release all political prisoners from jail to clear the way for
national reconciliation, he said.
Authorities held the first two days of hearings behind closed doors and had turned away
European diplomats on Monday, but yesterday representatives from 30 embassies were allowed in.
The regime also allowed five journalists from foreign news organisations and the same number
from local organisations to report on the hearing. Details had previously emerged only in state media or
through Mrs Suu Kyi's lawyers.
The case against Mrs Suu Kyi, accused of violating the terms of her house arrest after American
intruder John Yettaw swam to her lakeside home two weeks ago, has outraged the West and triggered
threats of new sanctions.
The surprise move to allow diplomats and media access to the trial followed intense international
pressure and a scathing condemnation by Burma's normally placid Southeast Asian neighbours.
OCTOBER AGREED FOR ASEAN SUMMITS
May 21, 2009 The Nation

Senior officials from Asean and its partner countries in Asia and the Pacific agreed to hold the
previously postponed summit of their leaders back to back with the grouping's forum in October,
Foreign Ministry's Director of Asean Affairs Department Vitavas Srivihok said yesterday.
The Asean summit with its partners, scheduled for April, had to be cancelled after red-shirt
protesters stormed the venue in Pattaya.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva initially proposed to hold the meeting on June 13-14 in Phuket
but many leaders failed to reschedule their programmes.
Holding a summit in October means the Asean summit with partners, that was scheduled for
April, is effectively cancelled, because the month had already been fixed for the 15th Asean summit
along with a meeting with its partners from Australia, India, China, Japan, New Zealand and South
Korea.
Political problems in Thailand have been jeopardising Asean meetings since last year. The 14th
summit for the grouping was originally marked for last November but was delayed after the People's
Alliance for Democracy protesters closed down the two Bangkok airports.
Abhisit's government did manage to host a meeting with 10 Asean leaders in February in Cha-
Am, but six dialogue partners missed the programme. The government then had to host another
meeting with leaders from Asia and the Pacific in April, but it had to be cancelled.
Senior officials agreed upon holding a summit in October at a meeting in Phuket on Monday and
Tuesday, Vitavas said, adding that the new venue for the summit had not been chosen.