Malaysia said today it was surprised and disappointed with the Burmese junta's decision to extend Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, and that it had expected her to be released.

"I'm very surprised," said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, adding that after United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari met with Aung San Suu Kyi last Saturday he had hoped "that they would not extend the house arrest".

"Of course we are disappointed," said Syed Hamid, who visited Rangoon earlier this year as an envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

"Asean has worked and been interacting with them for such a long time and has encouraged them and I expected that there would be new developments after the UN visit," he told reporters.

"We expected that she would be released this time and that the house arrest would be uplifted," he said. "But it is their right."

United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari also held talks with junta leader Senior General Than Shwe during a three-day visit aimed at pressing the military government on reforms.

Disappointing visits

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent more than 10 of the last 17 years under house arrest at her lakeside residence in the Burmese capital.

The junta crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and two years later rejected the result of national elections won by her party.

Malaysia's Razali Ismail, the UN's special envoy for Burma, stepped down in January after being denied entry for two years.

In March, Syed Hamid cut short his trip to Burma after failing to win permission to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.