Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi was in the Brunei capital of Bandar Seri Begawan on Wednesday, where she met Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof to discuss various issues including the political situation in Myanmar, where hundreds of civilian leaders have been detained following a military coup earlier this month.

Members of the freely elected civilian government of Myanmar, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, are in the custody of the military junta, who detained them before the convening of the first session of parliament after successful elections held in November last year.

As neighboring countries offered mixed responses to the illegitimate move on Feb. 1, Retno said she continued to engage with her ASEAN counterparts as well as foreign ministers from other countries as well as the United Nations special envoy on Myanmar.

“Many countries have expressed their concerns including Indonesia, but expressing concern is one thing; the question is what can Indonesia and ASEAN do, especially to help Myanmar get out of this delicate situation,” the minister said after the meetings in Brunei on Wednesday.

Outside the region, countries have expressed serious concerns and support for ASEAN to act, including at the UN Security Council, whose members singled out the bloc in a statement made just days after the coup. The UN Human Rights Council also passed a special resolution on the crisis in Myanmar on Feb. 12 in support of ASEAN.

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Outside of the multilateral diplomacy platforms, several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, India and Japan have also expressed their concerns through Indonesia.

Most recently, Retno had a phone call with her United States counterpart Antony Blinken on Tuesday, where they discussed various issues including Myanmar.

Following up on such engagements, Retno said Indonesia was obliged to consult with other ASEAN members to discuss what they could do as a collective. She believed that resorting to ASEAN mechanisms was the most appropriate course of action for helping Myanmar.

Meanwhile, observers insist that the group’s reputation is at stake, even though member countries must tread carefully so as not to legitimize the coup government.

Previously, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin suggested that a special ASEAN ministerial meeting should be held to discuss the situation.

Minister Retno laid out ASEAN’s principles in engaging Myanmar, which includes the principle of non-interference, prioritizing constructive engagement, as well as the safety and welfare of Myanmar’s people.

She also said the bloc would contribute to solutions deemed best for the people, including to help the country transition to a democracy that involved all stakeholders.

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“As one family, the ASEAN family, it is the obligation of all ASEAN member countries to respect what is stated in the ASEAN Charter,” she said.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah appeared to agree that such consultations were necessary, Retno said. “He also emphasized the importance of having the ASEAN foreign ministers immediately conduct meetings as a family.”

Brunei, for its part, reportedly held virtual meetings with the current foreign minister of the coup government, Wunna Maung Lwin on Feb. 11, while continuing its consultations with other ASEAN member states.

After Brunei, the Indonesian foreign minister headed to Singapore to meet Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and continued to open communication lines with other regional counterparts.

In a statement issued on Thursday by Singapore's Foreign Ministry, the two sides highlighted strong support for a proposed informal ASEAN ministerial meeting on Myanmar to be convened as soon as possible, “to facilitate a constructive exchange of views and identify a possible way forward”.

"Both ministers agreed that ASEAN can play an important role in facilitating constructive dialogue and a return to normalcy and stability in Myanmar. They discussed possible next steps for ASEAN to address the situation in Myanmar, including how it could foster inclusive dialogue with all key stakeholders, including its external partners," the ministry said in the statement.

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Balakrishnan also urged all parties involved to exercise utmost restraint and take urgent steps to de-escalate the situation, stressing that "live rounds should not be fired on unarmed civilians under any circumstances".

Civil disobedience movements continued apace in Myanmar, as people continued to rally against the junta despite increased military deployment and frequent internet blackouts, according to various media reports.

Aung Kyaw Moe, executive director of the Myanmar-based Center for Social Integrity, said that the outpouring of civil protest would continue even as some ASEAN countries drew the line and called the coup a domestic affair.

Anti-coup protests run deep in Myanmar’s history, he said, with the current show of defiance already becoming the largest expression of public solidarity since 1988, when nationwide pro-democracy protests were stifled with violence. At the time, thousands were killed and tens of thousands fled to Thailand to join insurgent groups.

“The issue in Myanmar will not remain an internal affair; it will become an Indonesian affair, a Malaysian affair and everyone's affair if this is mishandled,” Kyaw Moe said in a webinar organized by the Habibie Center on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has angered ASEAN lawmakers and human rights groups for agreeing to work with Myanmar’s military to deport 1,200 “people of Myanmar origin” by Feb. 23, raising concerns that such an action may endanger the lives of these people amid widespread crackdowns on dissidents. For decades, Malaysia has been an asylum destination for Myanmar’s stateless people, the Rohingya.