JAKARTA, May 15, 2009 (AFP) - Indonesia urged fellow ASEAN member Myanmar on Friday to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and drop "arbitrary" new charges against her.

"The Indonesian government is very concerned about the arbitrary detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and we are hoping for a legal process so we know the basis for her detention," foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.

The 63-year-old Nobel prize winner and democracy leader is facing five years' jail for allegedly breaching the terms of her house arrest after a US man swam to her lakeside house.

She has already spent most of the past two decades confined to her home after winning 1990 elections which were never recognised by the ruling military authorities.

"The charges against her are not appropriate. Why should Aung San Suu Kyi be detained when it was the American national who swam across the waters to her house?" Faizasyah said.

"For the time being, we don't see any good coming out of the trial, if it were to take place. Our main position is to call on Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We are following the issue closely and expecting a comprehensive report from the our embassy in Myanmar on the situation."

Indonesia is a founding member of the 10-state Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has a policy of non-interference in member states' internal affairs.

The Jakarta-based ASEAN secretariat has made no comment about Aung San Suu Kyi's impending trial, which has drawn strong international condemnation.

Myanmar last year ratified ASEAN's new charter which seeks to set standards of human rights and democracy for member states.