Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Saturday Southeast Asian nations would not take a confrontational stance towards Myanmar despite US pressure for stronger action.

Abdullah said US President George W Bush raised the issue of the military-ruled country during a meeting with seven Southeast Asian leaders on Friday at a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum.

But he said the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) - which includes Burma, would continue its "constructive engagement" with the ruling junta.

"President Bush did express his position, which I'm sure many of you already know," Abdullah told reporters after the Apec summit in the South Korean city of Busan.

Not the Asean way

He said Asean's "commitment to continue with the engagement with Burma is a strategy that we believe can work.

"It takes time, it's a little bit slow but I think we cannot be confrontational with Burma. That's not the Asean way," Abdullah said.

Malaysia currently holds Asean's alphabetically rotating leadership after Burma abandoned its turn because of international pressure.

Bush, who called Burma earlier in the week an "outpost of brutality", had urged his Southeast Asian counterparts to take a stronger stance to bring about democratic reforms.

Asean has stood by its policy of not speaking about the internal affairs of members despite criticism this was stifling the organisation, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.