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View all search resultsWill Indonesia’s diplomacy solve Myanmar crisis?
Indonesia needs to be active to ensure that bloodshed can be avoided and prevented at all cost.
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D
emocratic transition is a hard journey. Its outcomes cannot be taken for granted. It could lead to democratic consolidation, democratic stagnation or democratic regression.
The worst outcome is the termination of democracy, usually by the military. This is the case in Myanmar. The democratic transition that started in 2010 has now been disrupted by the military’s takeover on Feb. 1. The military, the Tatmadaw, has declared invalid the results of the November 2020 general elections that delivered a landslide victory to the National League of Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
The world immediately called on ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, to play an active role in addressing the problem. Each ASEAN member state has its own opinion on the matter. It was Indonesia, the largest member of ASEAN and the third-largest democracy in the world, that took the initiative to bring ASEAN together.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi immediately engaged in a flurry of diplomatic visits and talks with her ASEAN counterparts and also with China. It seems that Minister Retno is seeking to build ASEAN’s common position on how the regional bloc should respond, and how to address the most serious concern: preventing violence and bloodshed in Myanmar.
That, of course, requires contact and intensive dialogue with the Tatmadaw. ASEAN needs to put pressure on and inform the Tatmadaw that the use of force against demonstrators is not acceptable. ASEAN, especially Indonesia, wants to see maximum restraint on the part of the Tatmadaw, and any solution to the problem should be in line with the wishes of Myanmar’s people and democratic principles.
Unfortunately, some have misunderstood this realistic view as Indonesia’s support for the Tatmadaw and the coup against a democratically elected government. As a result, demonstrations against Indonesia’s role have taken place in Yangon. The protesters demand that Indonesia refrain from making any contact with the junta.
On Wednesday Retno held trilateral talks with her Myanmar counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin and Thai foreign minister Don Pramudwinai at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok. Retno said during the 20-minute meeting that she underlined the need for all ASEAN member states to respect the principles stipulated in the ASEAN Charter.
