Bangkok (Mizzima) - Thai Foreign Minister, Kasit Piromya, has said Thailand would not pressurize Burma on Aung San Suu Kyi’s case, but hoped Burma would conduct the court trial with transparency.
The Thai Foreign Minister said in a press conference on Friday that Thailand was concerned about Burma’s recent political confusion and Aung San Suu Kyi’s illness.
“The facts are still unclear on the US citizen case, and we also want the Burmese government to declare how he could swim to her house, which is under tight security by the Burmese authorities and what is his objective for this action. However, the court trial on May 18 should be conducted with transparency and Thailand is ready to send representatives to the court if the Burmese government allows us to,” Piromya said.
Suu Kyi was charged on Thursday of allowing an unauthorized US national to visit her in Rangoon. She was brought to Rangoon's Insein Prison to hear charges against herself, two party members, who live-in with her and her personal doctor for allowing an unauthorized visit.
“We hoped that the Burmese government would release Aung San Suu Kyi after her house-arrest of 6 years, which would follow the ASEAN statement (released at the ASEAN Summit 14th March 2009) which hopes that Burma will follow their roadmap to democracy, which included the release of political prisoners,” Piromya said.
ASEAN has not yet released an official joint opinion on the case, but the Thai Foreign Minister said that the ASEAN countries may hold a side meeting on the Burma issue at the ASEAN high level officials meeting on May 19, 2009.
He also added that the US embassy in Bangkok had contacted the Thai Foreign Ministry on the case and reported that Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State would contact Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN General-Secretary or may contact Thailand, which is the current ASEAN bloc’s president for discussions on the situation in Burma.
US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, has urged the government of Burma to immediately release democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi, calling the latest charges against her "baseless."
The minister said that he had appointed a Thai ambassador in Rangoon to discuss with ASEAN member countries in Rangoon, regarding the case.
He also said regarding the discussion with ethnic minorities, which are anti-government armed groups, that Thailand had discussed matters with the Karen National Union and had got a document from the group in reply, but could not yet reveal the contents.
In addition, Thailand is also trying to discuss with others ethnic groups such as Shan and Mon on the possibility of joining the Burmese junta’s national reconciliation process. “If they want peace, then armed fighting is not the solution,” he concluded.
Earlier, Piromya mentioned during his visit to Burma in March, that the Thai government had agreed to hold talks with the Karen National Union to join the national reconciliation program towards Burma’s general elections in 2010, following a call by the ruling Burmese military junta.
