United Nations envoy to Burma Razali Ismail today said that he has sought a meeting with the country's military rulers, but has yet to receive a response from the generals.

Razali also told malaysiakini that he remains 'optimistic' that democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi would be released soon.

However, his optimism runs against the fact that the military junta has yet to accede to demands that the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) leader be freed in time for the country's national convention next week.

A month ago, Razali told reporters that Suu Kyi, who have been put under house arrest last year, would be released "in the next several days".

NLD chairperson Aung Shwe said yesterday that the party - which had won the 1990 election in a landslide vote but denied the right to form government - will be boycotting the coming convention because the military has refused to release Suu Kyi and NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo.

"The government refused to agree to our demands... the NLD will not participate in the national convention under these conditions," said Aung Shwe.

Burma watchers say the NLD's decision to stay away merely confirms that Monday's national convention - hosted by the military government to discuss the formation of the country's new constitution - would lose what little credibility it had.

Military leaders had said that the national convention was an important first step towards democratic transition, as part of its 'roadmap to democracy' proposed last year.

Earlier, Razali told Reuters that "the parties should try again" to resolve their differences ahead of the national convention. "The stakes are too high and there are still a few days to go," he said.

'Suspend its Asean status'

Meanwhile, pro-democracy activists have called on the international community to withdraw their support from the regime's 'roadmap'.

Debbie Stothard of Bangkok-based Altsean-Burma said governments should step up their pressure on the military junta to deliver genuine political and economic reforms.

"This development is a challenge to Asian and European governments to match the decisive position adopted by the United States," said Stothard.

Also responding to the latest developments, Malaysia's opposition leader and DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang called on Asean to suspend Burma's membership in the regional grouping given its continued 'defiance' of global opinion.

For the past seven years since Burma joined Asean, said Lim, the military junta had never been serious about its responsibilities in the regional grouping.

But the latest refusal to release Suu Kyi, is "the last straw that breaks the camel's back," he said.

"It (the junta) has been playing games with Asean leaders... even the special envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail, was put through the farce of a dozen fruitless visits to Burma to secure Suu Kyi's release."

He added that it also marks the abject failure of the seven-year Asean policy of 'constructive engagement'.

In 1997, Malaysia was instrumental in securing Burma's admission into the regional grouping with the hope that peer pressure and discreet diplomacy would ensure the junta would cooperate in political dialogues brokered by the international community, most notably by UN envoy Razali.

Razali, who have made 12 trips to Rangoon over the past four years, have so far been unsuccessful in convincing the junta to embrace genuine reforms.