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ASEAN faces crisis ‘as family’
Catching up with the neighbors: The leaders of ASEAN member states, (from left) Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and Laos’ Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, pose for a group photo at the opening ceremony of the 33rd ASEAN summit in Singapore on Tuesday
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atching up with the neighbors: The leaders of ASEAN member states, (from left) Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and Laos’ Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, pose for a group photo at the opening ceremony of the 33rd ASEAN summit in Singapore on Tuesday.(AFP/Jewel Samad)
Members of Southeast Asia’s multilateral grouping stand ready to help Myanmar in dealing with the Rohingya crisis, a senior Indonesian delegate has said, after Jakarta’s call to persuade other countries in the region to face the issue “as a family”.
The 33rd ASEAN Summit and related meetings kicked off on Tuesday with the convening of the ASEAN Political-Security Community Council, during which Indonesia advised the group to take more of a communal approach to the humanitarian conflict.
“I did suggest [...] and have been suggesting for a long time now, for ASEAN to take on a bigger role vis-à-vis Myanmar,” said Wiranto, Indonesia’s Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister, on the sidelines of the meeting in Singapore on Tuesday.
“We cannot let Myanmar solve the problem alone. Myanmar’s closest friends are us in ASEAN — we should build trust to help.”
The minister claimed that Singapore had welcomed the suggestion, and said that its foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, agreed that ASEAN “as a family” would not impose anything on Myanmar.
Other countries also voiced their support for the suggestion, Wiranto added.
Myanmar has yet to publicly respond.
A United Nations report in August detailed mass killings and gang rapes with genocidal intent in a Myanmar military crackdown that began in 2017 and drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine state into neighboring Bangladesh. It called for Myanmar’s commander-in-chief and five generals to be prosecuted under international law.
The humanitarian crisis has become a sour note in an otherwise congenial annual affair, as Naypyidaw’s neighbors have become much more straightforward about concerns over human rights violations and a spillover of irregular migration across borders.
ASEAN usually acts by consensus and rarely meddles in each other’s internal affairs.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, ASEAN’s elder statesman, was particularly scathing in his remarks about Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. “It would seem that Suu Kyi is trying to defend what is indefensible,” the 93-year-old was quoted by Reuters as saying. “We are very disappointed, because someone who has been detained before knows the sufferings, and should not inflict it on others.”
ASEAN chair Singapore has also indicated ahead of the summit that it may use stronger language on the Rohingya issue, considering the intense international pressure it has sparked.
Last month, Singapore and Myanmar tried to set up an excursion for the ASEAN troika of foreign ministers — comprising the current chair, Thailand and the Philippines — to oversee the repatriation of Rohingya into Rakhine, before Indonesia suggested that all ASEAN member states be involved.
Wiranto conceded that ASEAN member states have so far taken to providing assistance to Myanmar through bilateral channels and not through the available regional mechanisms.
Indonesia, through groups such as the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), Buddhist organization Walubi and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), had built a hospital in Rakhine to accommodate the local population regardless of religion or ethnicity, Wiranto said.
The Rohingya minority is widely accepted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi also offered Suu Kyi her “4+1” formula in dealing with the Rohingya issue — which Jakarta paints mostly as a humanitarian crisis. Under the formula, Myanmar is urged to resolve conflict by restoring stability, eschewing violence, protecting people indiscriminately and opening up access for humanitarian aid.
The plan also suggested that Naypyidaw must implement the recommendations of a commission headed by the late former UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan.
Wiranto said Myanmar had tried to implement the formula “despite some hurdles”.
“It has tried to solve the conflict with minimum violence, but the situation itself is quite complex — and in some cases deemed a national security threat,” he said.
On Tuesday evening, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo reiterated the call for ASEAN to be more involved in the resolution of the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine state.
“[It has caused] concern and contributed to a deficit of trust in the international community. As part of the family, Indonesia hopes there will be progress in the resolution of this crisis,” Jokowi said during an opening meeting of ASEAN leaders, according to a distributed statement.
Jokowi said the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management, otherwise known as the AHA Center, would be deployed to aid in the resolution of the conflict. (tjs)
