Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Tuesday that military-ruled Burma must reform before it takes over the leadership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2006.

Asean's biggest member Indonesia and the Philippines also voiced concern on the final day of Asean's annual summit in Laos over Rangoon's seemingly mixed signals about reform, while Malaysia took a more cautious stance.

Thaksin put a positive spin on Rangoon's release last week of about 9,000 prisoners, saying it could herald more reforms even though pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest.

"One whole year, I think things may be changed. Now they have started to release the prisoners but not Aung San Suu Kyi yet.

"I think one year from now on, some things must be improved," Thaksin told reporters after a breakfast meeting with Burma's new premier Soe Win, a general appointed in a leadership reshuffle last month.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi refused to comment whether Burma should hold an election and release Aung San Suu Kyi before 2006.

"All I hope is that the momentum of change that will have to be brought in place will go progressively forward and not be stalled at any stage," he told a news conference.

Lingering embarrassment

Thaksin said Soe Win could not confirm reports that his government had extended the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the National League for Democracy (NLD).

The junta has never explicitly said she was under house arrest.

Thaksin said: "It is not easy to push Myanmar (Burma) in terms of saying, oh, release Aung San Suu Kyi. That makes the target harder if you push on a particular point."

Burma joined in 1997 and has been a lingering embarrassment for Asean ever since, but the grouping believes in a process of "constructive engagement" with the junta.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said in a statement she had urged Soe Win during talks Monday to embrace Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD in the reform process.

"Having welcomed Myanmar (Burma) to Asean, we want to ensure that the Asean vision of a vibrant and democratic community will be realized," Arroyo said.

"I reiterated that we have to answer to our own Asean community and to the international community."

Inconsistent pledge

Officials in Rangoon responsible for Aung San Suu Kyi's security confirmed an NLD announcement Monday that her third stint of confinement since taking up the democracy struggle in 1988 had been extended for a year.

The United States immediately expressed deep disappointment.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told reporters here that Aung San Suu Kyi's extended house arrest, if true, was "inconsistent" with Burma's pledge to previous Asean summits to lift restrictions on her.

"If confirmed, then probably that is a subject of consternation for Indonesia," he said.

Burma officials at the summit have stressed the regime's commitment to a seven-point "road map" to democracy amid concerns about last month's sacking of ex-premier Khin Nyunt, seen as the initiator of the reform plan.

They have trumpted their release of some 9,000 prisoners before the Asean summit. Only about 40 of them were political dissidents.

Activists have slammed Asean for being soft on the issue. They warned allowing Burma to chair Asean meant an endorsement of military rule and could undermine Asean's credibility.

A group of regional lawmakers over the weekend called for Burma to be suspended from Asean unless it made progress towards democratic reforms.