Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar admitted today that his visit to Burma was not a 'total success' after he was denied a meeting with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Syed Hamid said his trip to the military-run country last week as an envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was delayed for two months because of his insistence on seeing the Nobel peace laureate.

"I wouldn't consider it as a total success because the people we wanted to see, the NLD (National League for Democracy), Aung San Suu Kyi, they did not allow us to see them," he told reporters.

"They told me Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD no longer have any influence. I told them if that's the case, let me see them."

Syed Hamid left Burma abruptly on Friday, one day earlier than planned.

The minister said that if he were to make another visit to Burma, where he was trying to verify its claims to be moving towards democracy, he would have to see all those involved in the political deadlock.

"We needed some balance, we are able to hear their side of the story but we needed to verify the story," he said.

Open exchange

Syed Hamid said there had been an open exchange of views during the two-day trip.

"We were able to be very frank on what's lacking," he said. "On the one hand, we are frank about what needs to be done and they are frank about what they have done," he said.

"Much more needs to be done. It is a good start. Asean has never been taking this kind of action," he said, referring to the group's landmark decision last December to send Syed Hamid on an inspection tour to one of its members.

Despite increasing international pressure for democratic reform and sanctions by the United States and European Union, Burma's ruling generals have resisted loosening their grip on power.

The ruling junta crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and two years later rejected the result of national elections won by the NLD. Suu Kyi has spent most of the last 16 years in detention.