Manila – Myanmar has objected to a proposal to grant East Timor observer status to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Philippine officials said Thursday.

Foreign ministers of the 10-member regional grouping discussed the issue at a meeting in the Thai resort of Phuket in mid-February, they said. "There was no consensus on how East Timor can participate in ASEAN," Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja told reporters.

He said Myanmar in particular raised East Timorese leaders' "past dealings" with Myanmar opposition forces led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi when East Timor was still under Indonesian control. Myanmar officials said these "solidarity" meetings apparently continued after East Timor voted for independence and came under interim United Nations administration, Baja added.

While Indonesia had no objection to East Timor's application for observer status, there had also been misgivings in ASEAN over the "political, administrative and logistical implications of East Timor's eventual membership in ASEAN," said a Filipino official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Philippines, the only mainly Roman Catholic nation in the group, backs the conferral of observer status to fellow Catholic East Timor. Observer status, now enjoyed by Papua New Guinea, would allow the territory to attend ASEAN's annual ministerial meetings and hold informal consultations with the group.

Since coming under UN administration, East Timor has attended several ASEAN meetings as an invited guest. It is due to attain full independence on May 20. ASEAN, formed in 1967, now groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.