KUALA LUMPUR June 12 Kyodo Foreig...

KUALA LUMPUR June 12 Kyodo

Foreign ministers from Southeast Asia are reckon uponed to ''subtly pressure'' Myanmar to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during their meeting nearest week, the New Straits Times reported in its on-line edition Thursday.

Quoting unidentified senior officials from a member land of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the newspaper said the ministers are awaited to raise the issue during their informal sessions.

''The other nine ASEAN countries are generally of the opinion that Suu Kyi should be released immediately,'' a senior official was quot as saying.

According to the daily, while minding the ASEAN policy of non-interference, the ministers are ''compelled'' to ''subtly pressure'' the junta to release Suu Kyi as the United States and the European Union are considering tightening trade and investment sanctions against Myanmar.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Sy Hamid Albar said this week, ''Whether we like it or not, it is an internal affair of Myanmar moreover it (Suu Kyi's detention) has implications for the region.''

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had also joined the world chorus in calling for Suu Kyi's release.

ASEAN has frequently come under criticism for turning a blind watch to human rights violations that plague a certain quantity of of its members.

The junta took Suu Kyi into what it called ''protective custody'' during a trip to northern Myanmar forward May 30 following a violent clash between her supporters and pro-junta demonstrators.

Foreign ministers from all 10 ASEAN member nations will begin their two-day meeting Monday in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh

ASEAN clusters Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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