Indonesia has urged Burma to allow Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar to visit the military-ruled country to assess the progress of its democratic reforms.

"We hope that Myanmar would receive the Malaysian foreign minister," foreign ministry spokesman Desra Percaya told AFP .

A trip to Burma by Syed Hamid had been planned for January but was cancelled by the country's ruling generals.

Malaysian officials said last month that it had been rescheduled for March, but Syed Hamid said last week that the trip was "stalled".

Percaya said Burmese Foreign Minister U Nyan Win would visit Indonesia on April 19 for a two-day informal meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on the resort island of Bali.

But he said it was not clear whether Burma's much-criticised "road map to democracy" would be discussed during the Asean meeting.

"There's no fixed agenda for the retreat (in Bali). It will depend on whether Syed Hamid can visit Myanmar," Percaya said.

But the issue of Burma's democratic progress is likely to be raised during bilateral talks between Myanmar's foreign minister and his Indonesian counterpart under the framework of a joint commission, Percaya said.

Drafting new constitution

The commission was set up during a visit to Burma by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono earlier this month.

During the visit, Yudhoyono offered to help the junta work towards democracy and share Indonesia's experience in shifting from authoritarianism to democracy.

Burma proclaimed its seven-step "road map" to democracy in 2003 and is in the process of drafting a new constitution.

The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, last week called the process "fundamentally anti-democratic" and said that little had changed in terms of abuse and repression.

The opposition National League for Democracy won 1990 elections in a landslide but the result was never recognised by the military.

The opposition leader, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is under house arrest and is only permitted visits by her doctor.