The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ chief urged Myanmar authorities Sunday to avoid any «strong action» against growing anti-government protests, in hopes of avoiding violence.

About 20,000 Buddhist monks and citizens were demonstrating against Myanmar’s military junta in the country’s largest city, Yangon, with many shouting support for detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, witnesses said.

«I hope the relevant authorities in Myanmar will not take any strong action and turn the protests into a big confrontation,» ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong told The Associated Press by telephone from Poland.

The 10-country ASEAN, which includes Myanmar, was concerned over the protests and its foreign ministers would likely take up the issue when they meet on Sept. 27 in New York on the sidelines of an annual United Nations meeting, said Ong, who was to deliver a speech in Poland before flying to New York.

«Things are becoming more serious. However, I don’t know what ASEAN foreign ministers can do at this stage,» he said.

«I just hope the demonstrations remain peaceful, and I hope the authorities in Myanmar will find a way to handle the situation in a peaceful manner,» he said.

ASEAN has long had a bedrock policy of not interfering in member countries’ domestic affairs, although some liberal members have become more vocal with their criticisms of military-ruled Myanmar’s dismal human rights record.

The Philippines and Indonesia renewed criticisms of Myanmar on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings in Sydney, Australia earlier this month.

During a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Sydney, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo expressed ASEAN’s concern over Myanmar’s failure to abide by a roadmap to democracy it agreed to follow a decade ago, Romulo has said.

«It’s now 10 or 11 years, and we are still waiting,» Romulo said he told Rice. «There is now impatience in the ASEAN about the fact it’s not working out the way we thought it would work out.
ASEAN’s members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It admitted Myanmar in 1997, despite strong opposition from Western nations.

http://www.live-pr.com/en/asean-leader-appeals-for-restraint-amid-r1048157015.htm