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AMM convenes with Timor-Leste present, Myanmar absent
Timor-Leste is currently being considered for full membership of the currently 10-nation bloc.
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SEAN foreign ministers convened in Jakarta on Friday to kick off Indonesia’s chairmanship of the bloc with the first meetings to address “layers of challenges” and give Timor-Leste its “historic” debut at the regional association.
Grouped under the banner of the ASEAN Ministers’ Meeting (AMM), the talks have been eagerly awaited by many as an opportunity for Southeast Asia to address critical issues such as the Myanmar coup crisis.
With the credibility of ASEAN at stake, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has said that all programs under the Indonesian chairmanship are tailor-made to ensure the group remains agile and united amid “destabilization” in the region.
“At the global level, we face geopolitical food, energy, financial and political crises. At the regional level, major-power rivalries could spill over and could potentially destabilize the region,” Retno said in her opening remarks for the ASEAN Coordinating Council Meeting.
“Internally, we are facing a situation in Myanmar that tests our credibility,” she said of the third layer of challenges.
Furthermore, Retno said that ASEAN would be an anchor of stability within the wider region, a callback to a conversation with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, where he warned that ASEAN must not become caught in proxy wars and stay focused on remaining an epicenter of growth.
Over the past few months, the Indo-Pacific region has turned into a battleground for influence between the United States and China, prompting nation states to engage in balancing acts where they cooperate with Beijing in economics while also keeping Washington close for security purposes.
Ahead of the AMM, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan noted how the impact of the US-China rivalry “on our part of the world bears careful monitoring”.
Empty seat, again
In keeping with previous commitments, Myanmar’s seat remained vacant throughout Friday’s meeting. However, it by no means ceased discussions on the next steps to advance the Five Point-Consensus (5PC) peace initiative.
The 5PC is a set of demands made by ASEAN leaders in the aftermath of the 2021 military putsch in Naypyidaw, which saw martial law imposed and democracy unraveled as the military sought to bounce back from an electoral defeat. National reconciliation and delivery of humanitarian aid are among the demands made of the defiant regime.
Following Indonesia’s lead this year, a threefold solution was proposed, Retno said, involving inclusive stakeholder engagement and collaboration with special envoys.
“[Jakarta will] build conducive conditions to pave the way for an inclusive dialogue. Two important issues; [...] one is reducing violence and [second, the] continuation of humanitarian assistance.”
The prompts come as Jokowi said in an interview on Thursday that he was considering fielding a military general to engage with Myanmar’s junta. The Foreign Ministry’s director-general for ASEAN cooperation, Sidharto Suryodipuro, told reporters after Friday’s meeting that there was “no decision yet” on military involvement.
The military-to-military engagement is a throwback to a previous success by Indonesia in engaging with Myanmar in the mid-2000s, which eventually led to a push for democratization in the Southeast Asian neighbor.
Meanwhile, a silver lining to the gray clouds hovering over the AMM came with the debut of Timor-Leste as an observer to the proceedings. The nation is currently being considered for full membership of the currently 10-nation bloc.
Dili’s top diplomat Adaljiza Magno said during her remarks that Timor-Leste’s “strong sense of togetherness in ASEAN community building” would be evident in its future contributions to the group.
“Timor-Leste and ASEAN have shared interests and challenges and responsibility for the region. I quote what our President Zilla Masada said during the state visit to Singapore recently, saying we were, and are, never free or immune from our regional problems,” Magno said.
High expectations
Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a senior international relations researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), said that ASEAN needed to be mindful of both global problems like the food and energy crisis and major power rivalries if it wished to remain relevant.
“ASEAN needs to be mindful of these issues if it wants to create an inclusive regional architecture that promotes collaboration rather than conflict,” she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Dewi also called for the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific document to be implemented in earnest, while also making ASEAN regional mechanisms such as the East Asia Summit (EAS) more relevant and effective.
“The EAS has always been talked about and major countries speak about ASEAN centrality. But most of them move through minilateralism, such as the Quad [diplomatic group], the AUKUS [alliance] or other activities that are exclusive rather than inclusive,” the expert said.
On the topic of Myanmar’s continued defiance, Dewi said many people expected ASEAN to be stricter with Myanmar under Indonesia’s chairmanship. She suggested that the bloc establish a long-term roadmap, even if the 5PC remains the main reference for addressing the crisis.
“We need to be in it for the long haul, we cannot keep doing it through ad hoc methods.”
