Rice lashes government of Burma as oppressive

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sharply criticized the military government of Burma yesterday for denying the aspirations of its people, describing it as an oppressive holdout in a region moving increasingly toward democracy.

Speaking during the second day of a visit to Indonesia, Rice condemned Burma's rulers for bankrupting their once vibrant economy and shuttering universities that had previously attracted top scholars. Her tough remarks, which echoed earlier administration criticism of Burma, capped an address surveying the state of US relations with countries across Southeast Asia.

''A country that was once the jewel of Southeast Asia is now out of step with the entire modern experience of the region," she told an audience of scholars, politicians, businessmen, and students at the Indonesia Council on World Affairs. Citing Burma's decision late last year to relocate its capital to a remote site in its interior, she continued, ''The Burmese regime is now literally retreating into the depths of the country, closing its people off from the world and robbing them of their future."

The US government has imposed economic sanctions on Burma over the last decade in the hope of pushing the ruling generals toward political reform and winning the release of detained democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. The country's military rulers, who have renamed the country Myanmar, have maintained tight control since they rejected the results of a 1990 election won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in a landslide.

With few formal contacts remaining between Washington and Rangoon, US officials have been looking to the leaders of Burma's Asian neighbors to press the cause of political reform.

Two weeks ago, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia traveled to Burma and called on its rulers to keep the rest of Southeast Asia informed about internal political changes.