By DPA
Kuala Lumpur : Lawmakers from members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tuesday urged the expulsion of Myanmar from the organization to add pressure on the ruling military junta to stop the crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Zaid Ibrahim, president of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus comprising members of parliaments of the 10 nations of the grouping, said, it was time for the Asean states to take “drastic” action against Myanmar.
“It is clearly difficult to obtain a consensus when the country involved is Myanmar, which does not practise democracy, so it is time for drastic action against the country, such as expelling it from Asean,” Zaid was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.
He said Asean’s policy of non-interference into members’ domestic affairs had to be put aside as the violence was affecting countries in the region.
Asean consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar which is the latest to join the grouping.
Thousands of Myanmarese workers in Malaysia have launched two peaceful demonstrations to protest the military junta’s crackdown in their homeland. The junta said at least 10 people were killed but the toll is feared to be much higher.
Tens of thousands of Myanmar nationals work in Malaysia and tens of thousands more have sought refugee status there.