ASIA ACTIVISTS CALL FOR" TO DENY REGIME POLL IN BURMA"

Asean should not recognise 'illegitimate' Myanmar poll: activists
JAKARTA - ACTIVISTS on Friday denounced a junta-backed constitutional referendum in Myanmar as 'illegitimate' and called on Asean to reject it unless steps are taken to ensure a fair vote.
The call came in a formal declaration at the end of a two-day conference here involving groups from across the region and coincides with the visit of United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Myanmar.
Myanmar's junta announced last month it would hold a referendum on a new constitution in May, setting the stage for multiparty democratic elections in 2010.
Gambari is calling for democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be included in the process.
However, the junta has also brought in laws criminalising speeches and leaflets about the referendum and has said Aung San Suu Kyi would be banned from any elections because of her marriage to a foreigner, Briton Michael Aris, who is now dead.
The declaration in the Indonesian capital - the home of the Association of South-east Asian Nations secretariat - demanded that Myanmar allow in Asean and UN monitors during the referendum, declare a ceasefire with ethnic minority rebels and release all detained activists as a precondition for recognition.
'If Asean goes along with such an illegitimate process, it risks undermining its own credibility,' the declaration said.
Debbie Stothard, the convener of advocacy group the Alternative Asean Network on Burma (Myanmar), told reporters the regime's referendum was the same stalling tactic it used after failing to recognise democratic elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party in 1990.
'We can see the military regime has revived this process because they want us to forget what we saw in Burma last year,' she said, referring to a monk-led pro-democracy uprising brutally suppressed by the regime, killing at least 31 people.
'We are not asking people to go and protest in the streets against the regime, we are just asking Asean governments to do their job,' she said.
Asean nations have been criticised for taking a soft line on Myanmar's junta, favouring dialogue over tougher measures such as sanctions.
Myanmar Buddhist monk and veteran of last year's uprising, U Awbata, told reporters: 'All the monks in Burma, including myself, will never accept a referendum or election which is not just and fair.'
When asked if he supported Asean's emphasis on dialogue or the more belligerent approach taken by the West, U Awbata said: 'As Buddha says, the best way is the middle way, which is neither strong nor weak.' Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. -- AFP