Indonesian FM: US sanctions hurt Myanmar's people

FOSTER KLUG
The Associated Press

(AP) — WASHINGTON - Indonesia's foreign minister on Monday expressed frustration with Myanmar's lack of human rights and democracy but said the U.S. approach of harsh sanctions causes hardship among the country's people.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda also called on the military government in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, to release detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi immediately.

He said, however, that Indonesia believes Myanmar's neighbors should engage with the junta even more closely, a position at odds with the traditional U.S. policy favoring tough sanctions meant to force the generals to respect human rights and release thousands of imprisoned political activists.

Wirajuda's comments at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace came as Suu Kyi faced a trial widely seen as an excuse for the ruling junta to keep the popular Nobel Peace laureate detained through elections planned for next year.

Wirajuda was to meet Monday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose State Department is reviewing U.S. policy toward Myanmar, where the military has ruled since 1962.

Tough sanctions, Wirajuda said, "make the local people suffer even more." He called on the world to help alleviate their hardships. "This would encourage Myanmar to be more open," he said.

Indonesia has been heartened, Wirajuda said, by the Obama administration's willingness to talk with governments at odds with the United States.

Rights groups have complained about Myanmar's neighbors' traditional aversion to criticizing the junta and have urged the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar and Indonesia are members, to press the generals to end rights abuses and the detention of thousands of political prisoners.

Wirajuda said Myanmar's elections next year must be credible and include Suu Kyi's political party. Indonesia, he said, has told Myanmar that it will be closely following Suu Kyi's case.

It has been 19 years since Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory at the ballot box but was prevented from taking office. She has been detained without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, including the last six.

In the current trial, Suu Kyi has been charged with violating the terms of her house arrest because an uninvited American man swam secretly to her closely guarded lakeside home and stayed for two days.

Expectations are high that she will be found guilty since Myanmar's courts operate under the command of the military.