News Briefs (February 2006)

Indonesian Lawmakers Call on President to Meet Suu Kyi

Indonesian lawmakers have called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to cancel an upcoming visit to Burma unless he plans to pressure the military junta to release democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. “The President must convince the public his visit will contribute to the development of democracy and human rights in Myanmar [Burma],” legislator Djoko Susilo,who heads the Indonesian Legislative Caucus for Democracy in Burma, told the Jakarta Post. “Indonesia must take a more active role in pushing for the establishment of democracy in Southeast Asia, particularly in Asean member countries,” Djoko said. The caucus will file a petition with the President later this week, stressing democracy talks with Burma. The Indonesian President will probably visit Burma in early March, but an official date has not been confirmed. The trip is expected to follow official visits to Brunei on February 27 to 28 and Cambodia on February 28 to March 1.

Malaysia Starts House-to-House Inspections for Bird Flu  

Malaysia began culling birds and launched house-to-house inspections Tuesday for sick people in an area where 40 chickens died from the H5N1 bird flu virus in the country’s first reported case of the disease in more than a year. Health Minister Chua Soi Lek told reporters that his ministry has launched active surveillance in Gombak district in central Malaysia where bird flu was detected last week in four hamlets.

The surveillance would cover a 300-meter (1,000-foot) radius from every chicken pen where the infected birds were found, Chua said, adding that the Veterinary Services Department had begun to cull fowls there. The affected villages—Pasir Wardieburn, Taman Danau Kota, Pekan Danau Kota and Kampung Belakang JPJ—are just outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s largest city.

Chua did not say why the government disclosed only late Monday the deaths of the chickens last week in Gombak. It was disclosed in a statement by the agriculture minister in response to a Singapore media report. Malaysia had declared itself free of bird flu in January 2005, more than six weeks after its last infection was detected in villages in the northeastern Kelantan state. The disease was discovered there in August 2004 in fighting cocks smuggled from neighboring Thailand. No humans were infected. The H5N1 virus has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 92 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.