Malaysia, the host for a meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of South-east Asian Nations, on Wednesday denied that the group had backed down from confronting Burma over its poor human rights record in spite of issuing a watered-down statement on the issue.

Syed Hamid Albar, the Malaysian foreign minister, said Asean had privately sent a “very strong message” to Burma to speed up democratic reforms and release Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader, from house arrest.