By THE IRRAWADDY Thursday, December 29, 2011
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has urged the Burmese government to hold free and fair by-elections as part of its program of democratic reform.
At a press conference at the Sedona Hotel in Rangoon on Wednesday, Natalegawa urged Naypyidaw to allow a free and fair by-election, to make peace with ethnic minorities, to release all remaining political prisoners, and to continue further its democratization process.
“We support the democratic reforms made by the Burmese government,” said Natalegawa. “But it is necessary to continue on this path. We must hold them [the Burmese authorities] to their word,” he said, noting that the measures are linked to Burma's chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) in 2014.
Natalegawa told reporters that Indonesia can help Burma strengthen its democratization efforts in the same way that his country has achieved over the past decade.
He said Indonesia can help ensure the "irreversibility in the democratization process" taking hold in Burma. He added that the two countries have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation and ways to increase trade, which reached US $300 million this year.
According to their latest figures, Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners -Burma has said some 1,572 political prisoners are still being detained in Burma.
With regard to ethnic tensions, Naypyidaw has dispatched negotiating teams to hold talks with ethnic militias, but conflicts in Kachin and Karen states are ongoing.
Natalegawa met with his counterpart, Burma's Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, other officials and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday.
Natalegawa also visited Burma in late October when he met President Thein Sein. After returning from his previous trip, Burma was granted the 2014 Asean chairmanship at November's Asean summit in Bali.
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