The 11th Asean Summit has just recently wrapped up here in Kuala Lumpur. The focus of this year's summit was on creating a unified vision for the Asean countries. The summit was accompanied by mild change in attitude towards Burma, as the other Asean leaders have admitted that Burma's failure to 'get its act together' is an embarrassment to Asean. Malaysia has pressed for a delegation to be allowed to visit Aung San Suu Kyi in detention. We certianly shouldn't overlook the positive aspect of the change in attitude, even if it is superficial, as being at least some indication that public pressure on the issue is trickling down to Burma's neighbors. But one also has to wonder if Asean is actually embarrassed by the appalling human rights abuses occurring, or if it is embarrassed by the Junta's particularly uncouth way of pretending the 'elephant' in the room doesn't exist. I can't help but wonder if they might be less embarrassed if the junta had a slightly more sophisticated or intelligent diplomacy, or were better at hiding its inadequacies. It seems 'Myanmar' is becoming the drunken uncle no one wants to sit next to at the wedding.

On the Malaysia front, a demonstration was (nearly) held at KL City Center to protest Asean's failures to address human rights and refugee issues. At least, that's how the aforelinked article puts it. I was under the impression that the demo was going to be held to protest these issues in relation to Burma specifically, and to protest General Soe Win, Burma's delegate to the summit. There was a particular exiled Burmese party at the protest, as well as several other NGOs in Malaysia. Demostrating is, of course, illegal in Malaysia, so the protesters were promptly arrested before they could begin. The police have also arrested perhaps over 100 'illegal immigrants' in raids throughout KL in the last week. This includes a significant number of registered, unregistered, and recognized refugees from Burma. As the raids were conducted 'officially', the arrestees won't be able to buy their way out of lock-up. The raids began in KLCC late last week, and were subsequently conducted in surrounding neighborhoods, as well as Cheras - an area on the edge of the city I believe, and which has a significant number of Burma refugees living there. Word is the raids will continue in Bukit Bintang in the coming days, but hopefully they will taper off with the conclusion of the Summit.