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Questioning ASEAN secretary-general’s mission to Myanmar
ASEAN is now becoming a laughing stock in the eyes of the international community, not only because it is failing to address the plight of the Myanmar people as promised but also because it has fallen into the trap of military junta leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
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Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (center) and ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi (right) walk while attending the ASEAN leaders' summit at the bloc's secretariat building in Jakarta on April 24, 2021. (Handout/Muchlis Jr/Indonesian Presidential Palace via REUTERS)
W
ith no end in sight for the Myanmar crisis that has followed the Feb. 1 military coup, it’s about time for Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi to encourage President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to take over ASEAN’s mission to help the people of the newest member of the regional bloc.
ASEAN is now becoming a laughing stock in the eyes of the international community, not only because it is failing to address the plight of the Myanmar people as promised but also because it has fallen into the trap of military junta leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. The army general pretended to sincerely bow to ASEAN leaders’ pressure to stop military cruelty when he met with them in Jakarta on April 24, but as soon as he arrived home, he showed his real intentions: to take all necessary measures to hold on to power, including by the use of violence.
After nearly two months of delay, Brunei’s Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof and his compatriot ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi traveled to Myanmar from June 4 to 5 to meet with the military leader to follow up on the consensus reached between ASEAN leaders and Gen. Hlaing in Jakarta in April. But what the two Bruneians achieved was totally out of expectations – as if they were on a private mission with their own mandate. They slapped ASEAN and their own leader in their faces.
Kyodo reported that the aim of the visit was to discuss how ASEAN could help the Myanmar military “implement the five-point consensus, particularly the appointment and role of the special envoy of the ASEAN chair on Myanmar as well as how ASEAN could assist in facilitating constructive dialogue among all parties in Myanmar and provide ASEAN’s humanitarian assistance to Myanmar”.
As the rotating chair of ASEAN for this year, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has been entrusted to pick the special envoy, who will have a strong mandate to meet with all the conflicting parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The selection process has been so slow that it has triggered concern among ASEAN members, especially Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
The two-day visit of the two Bruneian officials, however, has shocked the region. The two officials acted well beyond their mandate when they failed to name the special envoy of the ASEAN chair and referred to the military junta leader and other people they met as the legitimate government officials of Myanmar in their official press statement.
On its official website, the ASEAN Secretariat wrote, “During the course of the visit, the Chairman of the AMM and the Secretary-General of ASEAN called on Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Chairman of the State Administrative Council, and met with H.E. Wunna Maung Lwin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Thein Soe, Chairman of the Union Election Commission, and H.E. Dr. Thet Thet Khine, Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.”
