ASEAN INTER-PARLIAMENTARY MYANMAR

CAUCUS
18-2 Commercial Centre, Taman Abadi Indah,
Off Old Klang Road, 58100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +603-7984 7318, +603-7980 1393
Fax: +603-7983 7318, +603-7981 7782
http://www.aseanmp.org email: info@aseanmp.org

Embargoed till 8 December, 2008 - 1000 (GMT +8, Malaysian Time)

Over 200 Asian Legislators urge UN Sec-Gen to travel to Myanmar, secure release
of all Political Prisoners

Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, New York; In what is believed to be the first time in history, a
large group of parliamentarians from all over Asia have sent a public letter to the UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urging him obtain the release of all political prisoners
from Myanmar / Burma by 31 December 2008.

The letter comes just after a group of 112 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 50
countries wrote to the Secretary General, also urging him to meet the year-end deadline
in travelling to Myanmar to secure the release of all of the over 2,100 political prisoners
in the country.

Members of Parliament from Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines,

Singapore and Indonesia joined the effort by parliamentarians from Asia who are
extremely concerned about the lack of progress in Myanmar’s human rights situation.

“It is important that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon travel to the country himself and
engage in serious dialogue with the military regime and impress on them the calls by
leaders and lawmakers from Asia and around the world for the release of all political
prisoners,” said Kraisak Choonhavan, President of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary
Myanmar Caucus, who hosted the petition.

“The suffering of the people must not be allowed to continue and the world can no longer
sit idly by and only assist them when there is a devastating natural disaster,” he added, in
a separate cover letter to the UN Sec-Gen.

A total of 241 parliamentarians from these eight Asian countries collectively reminded
the UN Sec-Gen that the United Nations Security Council, General Assembly, and
Human Rights Council have all called on Myanmar’s military regime to immediately
release all political prisoners, a call the military junta has defied.

Ends

(Attached petition letter with names of Parliamentarians who endorsed it. Letter faxed to
UN Sec-Gen’s office on 5th December 2008)

For media contact or to facilitate an interview with Parliamentarians, please call: Roshan
Jason (AIPMC Executive Director) at +6-012-3750974 or the numbers above.