The Lady : Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (center) reacts to her supporters as she leaves the headquarters of her National League for Democracy in Yangon, Myanmar, on Monday. The popular leader Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest on Saturday. AP/Khin Maung Win Indonesia “has welcomed” results of the Myanmar elections where the ruling military junta’s parties won the vast majority of the seats contested, while at the same time pushing for reconciliation.
“While we are welcoming the results of the [Myanmar] elections, we are urging reconciliation,” Foreign Ministry director general for ASEAN cooperation Djauhari Oratmangun said Monday in a discussion organized by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“Communications between Indonesia and Myanmar have to be intensified to push [Myanmar] toward reconciliation,” he said without elaborating.
Presidential advisory board member and former foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda, who was also among the speakers, said the elections had been prepared in a way to guarantee the victory of the Myanmar military.
But he added that he believed that Indonesia still had the leverage to deal with Myanmar issues, and urged the West to not press only ASEAN on the issue, but also China and the world’s largest democracy — India.
Both countries, he said, had kept silent about undemocratic Myanmar due to their huge interests in the resources-rich country.
However, speakers at the discussion agreed that it was important to “acknowledge” the results of the Myanmar elections as the elections themselves were a step toward democracy.
Alexander Chandra of Trade Knowledge Network, a global collaboration of research institutions, said that although it was important to uphold human rights and democratic values, the Indonesian government should not abandon Myanmar.
He said the Indonesian government should approach Myanmar not only with political and security agendas, but also with economic engagement.
Likewise, a security expert with the CSIS, Evan Laksmana, said the best thing for the Indonesian government to do was “acknowledge” the results of the Myanmar elections.
“But it’s also now the time for the Indonesian government to start demanding a post-election blue-print from the Myanmar government,” he said.
“If the Indonesian government is serious about its chairmanship in ASEAN, then business, civil society and people-to-people aspects have to be the focus in dealing with Myanmar’s post-election issues.”
Separately, international relations scholar Hariyadi Wirawan and House of Representatives foreign affairs commission member Tantowi Yahya supported the Indonesian government’s standpoint.
Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released last Saturday, is trying to have her disbanded party declared legal again, the AP reported. The Myanmar government officially dissolved her party before the elections.
