Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said Asean leaders should review their relations with Burma following fresh reports of continuing human rights abuses in the country.

In a statement today, Wan Azizah said the time has come for Asean countries to reconsider their "constructive engagement" policy since the Rangoon military junta has not responded to international efforts at brokering national reconciliation for Burma.

"After more than a decade of international efforts to bring about a reconciliation between the military junta and its antagonists, little progress has been achieved, especially in terms of democratic reform and respect for human rights," she said.

Instead, Wan Azizah said the Burmese State Peace and Development Council has ignored international appeals and turned its back a United Nations-brokered dialogue.

An indication of this, she said, is the continued detention of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and scores of political dissidents.

"In recent months, dozens of new and unjustified arrests have been made, with the victims including Buddhist nuns and other leaders of (opposition party) National League for Democracy (NLD)."

Wan Azizah said the matter should be raised by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when he meets with regional heads of state on his tour of Asean countries.

The premier is scheduled to visit Indonesia on Thursday and make a one-day visit to Singapore on Jan 12. Last month, he visited Brunei.

Religious persecution

Suu Kyi and a number of high-ranking officials in the NLD were arrested in a nationwide crackdown last May during the party's roadshow in northern Burma.

She was detained at an unknown location in Rangoon for several months before being placed under house arrest in September after undergoing surgery.

Suu Kyi has since refused to leave house arrest unless the military government releases her NLD colleagues who have also been placed under house arrest.

Meanwhile, Wan Azizah also expressed concern over several reports which have emerged recently on the state of human rights in Burma.

She referred to a report by Bangkok-based Burma lobby group Altsean last August which listed cases or arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial killings and disappearances of opposition leaders and supporters.

The document, entitled 'Uncounted: Political Prisoners in Burma's Ethnic Areas', also included reports of rape allegedly committed by soldiers in the Shan and Mon states.

Wan Azizah also condemned the military junta for alleged religious persecution of Muslims and Christians.

"Anti-Muslim books are being openly distributed. Muslims also report difficulty in renewing their identity cards....(Christians) have also alleged discrimination saying that they have been denied their right to organise religious activity and are being branded as accomplices of northern guerillas," she claimed.

Various reports by international rights groups have constantly alleged religious and ethnic discrimination by the Rangoon government.

Although the population of Burma is almost 90 percent Buddhist, several ethnic minority groups are identified with certain religions such as the Karens (Christians) and Rohingyas (Muslims).

Some of these groups have been engaged in long-running separatist struggles to set up their own independent states, thereby giving rise to the junta's hardline attitude towards them.