CALD relieved on Myanmar’s non-chairing of ASEAN

(August 4, Manila) The Council of Asian Liberals & Democrats (CALD) passed a resolution expressing its approval that Myanmar will not assume the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2006. In the same resolution, CALD congratulated parliamentarians and NGOs worldwide—in particular from ASEAN member countries—for their steadfast commitment and action towards Burmese democratization; reiterated its call for the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners; and reaffirmed its commitment to the cause of Burmese freedom and democracy.

Last April, during the 112^th Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) General Assembly in Manila, the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Caucis on Myanmar (AIPMC) where CALD is an active member, lobbied against the ASEAN chairing ofMyanmar in 2006. AIPMC has demanded specific prerequisites for Myanmar’s accession to the ASEAN chairmanship including the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners and substantial and measurable political reform.

The Liberal Party of the Philippines, the Democrat Party of Thailand and the People’s Movement Party of Malaysia are all part of their respective national parliamentary caucuses on Burma. The three political parties are all founding members of CALD. Another CALD member is the exiled National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB).

CALD recognized the role of parliamentarians, especially from the region, in exerting pressure to Myanmar’s junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and to the governments of ASEAN countries for Myanmar to relinquish its chairmanship to the next country in the line of ASEAN’s rotating chairmanship, the Philippines.

CALD reiterated the call of 14 Nobel peace laureates in a letter to fellow Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on her 60^th birthday last June “urging the Burmese government to release, immediately and unconditionally, (Aung San Suu Kyi) and the nearly 1,500 political prisoners it holds, to end its brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against the minority people’s of Burma and to begin a transition to genuine democracy”.

Click here for full text of resolution.

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This post was written by CALD