The government today rejected a call for Burma to be excluded from the Asean summit in Bali next month unless it releases opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said that if the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) took such action, "we'll get nowhere".

"It was Asean that brought Burma into the Southeast Asian countries' fold. It is our duty to bring them into constructive engagement and isolating them is not going to be productive," Syed Hamid said.

"I think Asean has said what it needs to say on the detention of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. It wants Suu Kyi to be released, it wants Burma to go back to its reconciliation process."

Last resort

Opposition part DAP yesterday called for the exclusion of Burma from the Asean summit if the military rulers failed to release Suu Kyi and other political prisoners by the end of the month.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned in an interview with AFP in July that Burma might have to be expelled from Asean if its military rulers continued defying world pressure to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mahathir, who played a major role in bringing Burma into the 10-member Asean grouping in 1997, made it clear, however, that this would only be considered as a last resort.

"We will have to examine every avenue before we can take such drastic actions," he said.

"In the end, it may have to be that way. I don't say that it cannot be but certainly not at this moment."

Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990 elections by a landslide but has been denied power by the military, was detained on May 30 when her convoy was attacked by a junta-backed mob while she was on a political tour of northern Burma.

Since then her National League for Democracy party has faced a nationwide crackdown that has persisted despite tough new sanctions by the United States, the European Union and Canada. - AFP