DAVOS, Switzerland (via PLDT) –- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday night rallied Asean leaders to make a difference in the region by getting detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi freed in Myanmar.

The President ratcheted up calls for the release of the detained leader in a strongly-worded message she delivered at the Asean session of the World Economic Forum in this Swiss ski resort.

Arroyo said the regional group should attain a "level of democratization'' on the issue of human rights "if we are to work collaboratively for the common good.''

"We must see political reform. We must see Aung San Suu Kyi released -- and now. Our present Asean knows our position on this,"' she told Asean leaders and dignitaries during the high-level session at the Congress Center.

She warned that the Philippine Senate would not ratify the Asean Charter unless the legislators saw "real political reforms'' take place in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

"The Senate will not ratify the Asean charter if we don't see real political reforms in Asean," Arroyo said at a plenary session of the World Economic Forum here on Friday evening (past midnight Saturday in Manila).

"So we must work together to make the tough choices to make Asean real and Aung San Suu Kyi free,'' she said in the session, titled "The Emerging Asian Community: Role of Asean.''

The Asean charter, signed during the November 2007 Asean Leaders' Summit in Singapore, seeks to create a human rights body in the region.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, however, stressed that the 10-member Asean must always abide by its policy of "non-interference.''

"It's important to respect the principle of non-interference with the internal affairs of member countries. [That's why there's] a problem on how to deal with the Myanmar issue,'' he said.

Also present at the session were Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien-Loong, Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan, dignitaries from other Asean member countries, and Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC Holdings.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has been held continuously by the ruling military junta since 2003.

The junta, which took power in 1988, called elections in 1990, but refused to recognize the results when Suu Kyi's party won a resounding victory.

The President delivered the same message when she addressed the Gender Parity Group minutes later, also at the Congress Center.

"What should we do? We stand up and call for Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom,'' she said.

Arroyo has consistently advocated that Asean take a more active role in introducing reforms in Myanmar. At the 13th Asean summit in November last year, she called on her fellow Asian leaders to work for the release of Suu Kyi.

Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Arroyo ups pressure on Myanmar to free Suu Kyi.