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Myanmar not be-all and end-all for Indonesia or ASEAN
ASEAN should support and let the NUG and other factions take the leading role in the efforts to bring peace back to Myanmar.
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In memoriam: Muslims pray by the graves of Myanmar's late minister of education and national planning U Razak and his bodyguard Ko Htwe, who were killed at the time of the assassination of independence leaders including general Aung San, as they mark the 76th Martyrs' Day in Yangon on July 19, 2023. (AFP)
T
he joint communique that capped the ASEAN Ministers Meeting in Jakarta last week only shows that the regional grouping was not going to achieve any significant progress on the Myanmar issue under the rotating chairmanship of Indonesia. Unsurprisingly a senior representative of the ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi openly expressed her distrust in ASEAN, just like her boss, who has little respect for Indonesia.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo should not feel embarrassed by the failure because the Myanmar junta leader, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, will never be willing to realize his promise to implement the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) anyway. The military junta is known for its track record as a murderous force with no hesitation to kill civilians in order to cling to power and access to wealth. So let us move on.
Given his successful time in charge of the Group of 20 last year, hopes abounded that Jokowi would repeat the same magic when assuming the ASEAN chairmanship this year. Such oversimplification has been proven wrong. We have probably underestimated the complexity of Myanmar, a nation that was used to living in seclusion for decades.
Zin Mar Aung, the foreign minister of the National Unity Government (NUG), the representative of Suu Kyi's government in exile, teasingly, if not desperately, told ASEAN the crisis in Myanmar was just one of the issues the bloc had to confront.
In her statement she warned the people currently fighting the brutal regime in Myanmar against expecting too much from ASEAN. She also criticized the regional grouping for not doing enough to help the poverty-stricken people of Myanmar.
Voice of America interviewed her after the end of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting and her encounter with dialogue partners in Jakarta last week, when the Myanmar issue was tabled. The event saw the act of betrayal of the outgoing Thai regime, which tried to sabotage the Indonesia-led mission on Myanmar.
In Mar Aung's view, ASEAN is now facing regional issues such as rising tensions in the South China Sea, and the development of the Indo-Pacific, where ASEAN is trying to play a central role amid increasing armed competition to control the two oceans.
