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Hun Sen’s different approach
Jokowi phoned Hun Sen to tell him the Myanmar junta had no choice but to fully implement the “five-point consensus”.
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he ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia next week will be a real test for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s determination to welcome the Myanmar’s military junta to ASEAN forums. It remains to be seen whether Hun Sen will defy the warning from Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who insists that unless the junta leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing implements his own promise to the regional grouping in April of last year, he cannot attend any ASEAN meeting.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn will host the ASEAN foreign ministers’ annual retreat from Jan. 18 to 19. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi will be on a very clear mission, which is to deliver what President Jokowi wants from Myanmar. Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines will very likely share Indonesia’s stand as they did before.
Will Prak Sokhonn be able to force his ASEAN colleagues to accept the presence of Myanmar’s official delegation in the meeting?
In his capacity as ASEAN chair, Hun Sen went to Naypyidaw from Jan. 7 to 8, the first head of government to have visited the junta leader since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup. Two days before the visit, Jokowi phoned Hun Sen to tell him that the Myanmar junta had no choice but to fully implement the “five-point consensus” Hlaing approved during the ASEAN emergency summit on April 24, 2021 in Jakarta. In October that year, the junta leader was not invited to the ASEAN summit for failure to comply with the consensus.
Last month, however, Hun Sen reportedly asked all ASEAN member states to allow the junta to attend the group’s meeting on Myanmar’s behalf. Reuters quoted Prak Sokhonn as saying last week that Cambodia would take “different approaches” to make the Myanmar junta fulfill the five-point consensus.
Since the military ousted the government of Aung San Suu Kyi last year, nearly half of the 55.4 million population of Myanmar have fallen into poverty. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in December that people in 14 Myanmar states and regions were facing malnutrition. The situation has added to the woes stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Killing, jailing and oppression of the Myanmar people have failed to kill the resistance against the military, which has absolutely controlled the country for more than 60 years now. Jokowi and several other ASEAN leaders have sent a clear message they will not let the brutal regime commit gross crimes against its own people.
In Naypyidaw, Hun Sen received an honor guard and a red-carpet welcome from Min Aung Hlaing, who immediately claimed Hun Sen’s visit as recognition of his regime.
ASEAN is well acquainted with Hun Sen, the longest serving PM in the region. In 2012, ASEAN members were forced to back down when Hun Sen refused a joint communiqué that mentioned the situation in the South China Sea, for the sake of ASEAN unity.
Many things have changed now. As the largest member and de-facto leader of ASEAN, President Jokowi knows where to stand on the issue of Myanmar. He should consistently demand that Gen. Hlaing walk the talk on the five-point consensus and give the Myanmar general no more chances to tarnish the credibility of ASEAN.
