Foreign Minister questions Mynamar junta’s commitment to promised fair election

Lilian Budianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/01/2010 9:37 AM

Indonesia has called on Myanmar’s military junta to uphold its commitment to stage a fair election that would allow the participation of opposition party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, during a visit by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to Yangon on Tuesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said the countries would discuss Myanmar’s upcoming elections, including new poll regulations that had been boycotted by Suu Kyi’s party, during a meeting between Marty and his counterpart, U Nyan Win.

Members of the National League for Democracy party voted unanimously Monday to skip the country’s first election in two decades to send out a strong message that the army-orchestrated political process was “unjust” and “unfair”, Reuters reported.

“Indonesia will pose questions on the terms of the elections to ensure that the country upholds its commitment to have an election that allows all parties to take part,” said Faizasyah.

“The new regulations are not clear as to whether they will prevent Suu Kyi from participating. The minister will touch on this point during his visit. The credibility of Myanmar’s election will come under question if it does not include Suu Kyi.”

Faizasyah said Marty’s three-day visit to Myanmar was a courtesy call and was not directly aimed at discussing the election, which does not have a date yet.

He said there had been no talk of whether ASEAN countries could act as observers during the election.

“But we are ready to contribute if Myanmar seeks any involvement,” he said.

Rafendi Djamin, Indonesia’s commissioner for ASEAN’s human rights body, said the new election regulations set out by Myanmar’s junta sought to prevent Suu Kyi from taking part.

“The verdict against Suu Kyi last year was meant to prevent [her] from competing in the election. The credibility of Myanmar’s election has been hurt even before it has been held,” said the commissioner for the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights.

Indonesia has strongly condemned the junta’s placing of Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and general secretary of the opposition party, under house arrest after an American man swam to her house last year.

Jakarta declared the incident had been orchestrated by the junta to prevent Suu Kyi’s involvement in the election and called on the junta to release her.

Yuyun Wahyuningrum, an activist from the Asia Forum, said expectations were high that the first election in Myanmar in two decades would be a vital step on a long road to return democracy to the country.

“Myanmar’s election is a major measuring stick for the success of the ASEAN Charter. The junta has been making up new excuses to justify the election’s credibility through the new regulations that ban Suu Kyi from the elections,” she said.

She said ASEAN members had failed to push for democracy in Myanmar because many remained divided over the issue.