Myanmar’s “sensitivities” must be taken into account in an ASEAN communique, Malaysia said Monday as an official said that criticism of the regime would be watered down at ministerial talks here.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had been expected to issue a strongly worded statement on Myanmar at the end of its foreign ministers’ meeting here Tuesday.

But an Indonesian senior official said that some members had succeeded in a campaign for the statement to be toned down.

A mid-July draft of the communique obtained by AFP included a call for the release of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition figures in detention.

It also expressed “disappointment” that Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was not permitted to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi when he travelled to Yangon in March as ASEAN’s envoy.

Indonesian senior foreign ministry official Imron Cotan said the latest draft no longer contained the name of Aung San Suu Kyi but referred only to the immediate release of those who are in detention.

“The earlier drafts were prepared by Malaysia. It has not been a negotiated as yet. This is a negotiated text,” Cotan told reporters, noting that previous joint communiques in the past three years had not mentioned Aung San Suu Kyi by name.

The tone of the ASEAN statement “is a kind of continuation of our concern for those detained, and that includes Aung San Suu Kyi as well,” he said.

Asked whether the communique had been watered down, Syed Hamid said that the foreign ministers would have to make a decision on the final version.

“We are trying to accommodate so that it will reflect ASEAN’s views. At the same time we take into account the sensitivity of Myanmar,” he told reporters.

ASEAN’s democracies including Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines have led the region’s criticisms of Myanmar but other members like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have been virtually silent.

ASEAN secretary general Ong Keng Yong said earlier Monday that the bloc’s foreign ministers would decide this week whether to abandon their campaign for democratic reforms in Myanmar and ask the United Nations to take over the job.

Ong signalled the grouping’s frustration over being constantly overshadowed by its reclusive member, saying that the Myanmar issue was proving too much of a burden.

“In the first place it is not an ASEAN problem to the extent that all other ASEAN agenda items are neglected,” he said.

“We have 95 percent of other issues to deal with but the rest of you are not interested in the 95 percent of what we are doing.”