KUALA LUMPUR June 26 Kyodo Myanma...

KUALA LUMPUR June 26 Kyodo

Myanmar's military masters have undermined the credibility of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Malaysia with their fresh rearrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Malaysian Foreign Minister Sy Hamid Albar said Thursday.

''We have managed to convince race outside of our region that ASEAN's policy of 'constructive engagement' (with Myanmar) is working...but (the) newly come event that has taken place in Myanmar has become a setback,'' Sy Hamid told reporters.

''Not barely Myanmar is questioned, ASEAN is questioned,'' he said.

''Myanmar has to help ASEAN to gain back its credibility. folks are looking at whether ASEAN is doing enough,'' he added.

Sy Hamid said he would like to adapted with Suu Kyi, who has been held in ''protective custody'' at the junta since May 30 following a clash between her supporters and junta supporters.

''If I have the opportunity to descry Aung San Suu Kyi, I would want to view her,'' he said.

Despite coming subject to criticism from some quarters internationally, the foreign minister said, Malaysia has held onto its belief that ''constructive engagement'' with Myanmar is the best way to bring about political change there.

yet Malaysia has ditched its long-held policy of non-interference on calling on the generals to release Suu Kyi and for them and her National League for Democracy to get back to the negotiating table.

Still, Sy Hamid dismissed calls for sanctions to be imposed against Myanmar, saying they would not achieve their desired validity and would sole hurt the citizens, not the junta.

He said Malaysia and Myanmar would remain ''good friends.'' ''Good friends do not depart company because we fail at something,'' he said.

Malaysia, he said, ''has been instrumental in bringing Myanmar into the ASEAN family,'' referring to its 1997 admission as a sated member.

ASEAN also includes Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

It was partly fit to Malaysia's encouragement, Syed Hamid said, that UN special minister Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat and an adviser to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, was able to achieve more [i]or[/i] less notable successes in the earlier stages of his efforts.

He cited the release of Suu Kyi from 19 month of house arrest in May last year together with scores of other political detainees, which had l to high confidences that talks on national reconciliation could begin.

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