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ASEAN MPs concerned about democracy in Burma should  sponsor motions for adoption by ASEAN Parliaments to call for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners to avert  ASEAN diplomatic disasters whether the ASEM Summit in Hanoi in October or 2006 ASEAN Summit   Media Conference Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Parliament House, Wednesday): The bleak prospect for democracy in Myanmar as envisioned by United Nations special envoy to Myanmar Tan Sri Razali Ismail in his comments  the New Straits Times before briefing the Parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar yesterday warrants deep and serious consideration by all Malaysian and ASEAN MPs concerned about democracy in Burma.  As reported by the New Straits Times, Razali said there is no indication yet on when the Myanmar Government is releasing Burmese Opposition Leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and moving towards democratic reform.   It is clear that there is still no light at the end of the tunnel for democracy and national reconciliation despite over a decade of the failed ASEAN policy of “constructive engagement”. ASEAN Members of Parliament  concerned about democracy in Burma should sponsor motions for adoption by  their respective Parliaments in ASEAN  to call for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners to mount pressure on the Myanmese military junta to  avert  ASEAN diplomatic disasters whether the ASEM Summit between Asian and European leaders in Hanoi in October or  the 2006 ASEAN Summit.  Time is running out if these two  ASEAN diplomatic disasters are to be averted, as there are already  two diplomatic setbacks,  the cancellation of two Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Ministerial meetings - the sixth ASEM Finance Ministers’ Meeting in Brussels  in  July and the sixth ASEM Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Rotterdam on Sept. 16-17. It is most regrettable that the 37th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM)  in Jakarta was such a disappointment,  allowing the  Myanmese military junta to  renege on multiple  pledges to ASEAN leaders on democratisation and national reconciliation, such as:  The pledge by the Myanmese Foreign Minister Win Aung at the 36th AMM in Phnom Penh in July last year that Aung San Suu Kyi’s re-detention on May 30 last year was “temporary”. It now appears that  in the dictionary of the Myanmese junta, “temporary” actually means “permanent”. Win Aung’s public assurance when he arrived at the ASEAN Summit in Bali last October that national reconciliation was a “priority” for the Myanmese military junta. However,  the junta has convened  the National Constitution Convention  without the participation of the National League for Democracy, which won a landslide election victory in 1990 but was  barred from taking power, or releasing Aung San Suu Kyi. The softening and abandonment of the ASEAN stand in insisting that the Myanmese military junta must  “substantiate its path to democracy and reconciliation” by releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy leaders from detention and engaging them in meaningful national reconciliation talks can only lead to the two ASEAN diplomatic disasters in Hanoi in October and July 2006 event when Myanmar takes over the rotating chair of ASEAN.  ASEAN Parliamentarians should seek to  evolve an ASEAN consensus and will through parliamentary motions in the ASEAN Parliaments calling for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Myanmar, so that the Myanmese military junta is given a clear choice whether it wants to continue to be part of ASEAN community of nations or outside it. (7/7/2004) * Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Member of Parliament for Ipoh Timor & DAP National Chairman