A coalition of democracy and human rights advocates has appealed to four Asian countries to oppose Burma's appointment as next year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The group led by the U.S.-based Freedom House and Democracy Coalition Project, and the Italy-based Transnational Radical Party, sent a letter Wednesday to the prime ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, saying Burma's assumption of the rotating chairmanship would be an unjust reward for a government that has not fulfilled promises of democratic reform.
The letter says that failure has cost Burma the trust of the international community.
The four recipients of the letter are members of the Community of Democracies, a group of nations that has pledged to uphold democratic practices and human rights.
