Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was expected in military-run Burma today to review democratic reforms amid global pressure for the junta to improve its human rights record.

Syed Hamid, travelling as a special envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Soe Win during his three-day trip, according to diplomats in Rangoon.

But he is not likely to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 16 years in jail or under house arrest, a Yangon-based diplomat told AFP.

Burma, under fire over its lack of progress on democratic and human rights reforms, agreed at last year's Asean summit to receive the envoy in January.

But the visit had apparently stalled over the envoy's insistence on meeting Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Malaysia insisted the foreign minister should be able to meet Aung San Suu Kyi during the visit. But Myanmar (Burma) kept rejecting the request. That's why his trip was so delayed," the diplomat said.

"Now it looks like the envoy has accepted the conditions that he will not see her," the diplomat added.

Report to Asean

Syed Hamid is expected to report on his Burma mission at Asean's meeting of foreign ministers on the Indonesian island of Bali in April.

The envoy's trip follows two high-profiled visits to Burma by Indian President Abdul Kalam and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in early March.

Yudhoyono, Indonesia's first directly elected president, told junta leader Senior General Than Shwe during talks that Indonesia could offer to help Burma work towards democracy.

Along with the 60-year-old Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the United Nations estimates that more than 1,100 political prisoners are detained in Burma.

The junta brutally crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and two years later rejected the result of national elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

Earlier this month, US President George W Bush, travelling in India, called on all nations to seek the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest was again extended by six months in December.

More vocal criticisms

Washington, one of Burma's most vocal critics, also said the junta's rights record during 2005 had worsened and its military rulers continued to commit serious rights abuses, in its annual report on human rights released in March.

Burma joined Asean in 1997 but has embarrassed regional leaders with its empty promises on rights and democracy.

The junta also recently stunned the Asian bloc when it secretly moved the capital to Pyinmana, 320km north of Rangoon.

While Asean maintains a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states, its criticism of Burma has become more vocal due to strong pressure from Washington, diplomats said.

The United States has a total ban on Burma's exports due to the regime's rights violations, while the European Union has more targeted measures such as a travel ban on the junta, an arms embargo and a ban on investment in state companies.

The military has ruled Burma, one of the world's most isolated and impoverished nations, since 1962.