Malaysia has insisted that Burma democratise and free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi if it wants Asean's support in international gatherings.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, whose country currently chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), was speaking ahead of the group's annual security forum later this month which US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend.

Rice shunned last year's meeting of the Asean Regional Forum in what was seen as an attempt to pressure Asean into pushing its recalcitrant military-ruled member Burma to reform.

"We have encouraged them to move forward in their democratisation process as well as asking them to release Aung San Suu Kyi," Syed Hamid told reporters.

He said this had been done at the last two or three meetings of Asean foreign ministers and at the summit. "So I think we cannot be simply defending Myanmar (Burma), unless the situation has changed."

Fresh information

Syed Hamid said Burma should give Asean details of its promised reforms.

"We respect Myanmar as a member of Asean but on some of the issues, if we do not have fresh information or fresh actions that they have taken, we cannot be taking a position on it," he said.

Last month Malaysia signalled the region was close to washing its hands of Burma.

Syed Hamid travelled to Rangoon in March as an Asean envoy to check on its claims it is shifting towards democracy but was denied access to Aung San Suu Kyi. Regional leaders were "frustrated and disillusioned" with Burma, he said afterwards.

The junta crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and two years later rejected the results of national elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent 10 of the past 17 years in detention.