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February 19, 2008 -- Updated 0336 GMT (1136 HKT)
ASEAN criticizes Myanmar draft
SINGA****E (AP) -- Southeast Asian countries told Myanmar barring
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from elections because she once was
married to a foreigner would be odd and not in keeping with the times.
However, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the region's main
political and economic bloc, which includes Myanmar, is powerless to do
anything, Singa****e Foreign Minister George Yeo said late Tuesday.
ASEAN ministers met, as a government panel in military-ruled Myanmar on
Tuesday completed writing the draft of a new constitution.
Guidelines used to draft the new charter bar Nobel laureate Suu Kyi from
national office because she was married to a foreigner -- her late British
husband, Michael Aris -- and enjoyed the privileges of a foreign national.
Government critics have called the constitutional process undemocratic
because it has been closely directed by the military with no input from
independent parties.
Authorities have said the new charter would lead to a general election in
2010 and replace one scrapped when the current junta took power in 1988.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/19/mynamar.constitution.ap/
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