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‘As a family’: Minister presses for ASEAN meeting to broach Myanmar crisis
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has visited Brunei and Singapore to press for a special meeting of ASEAN to discuss the post-coup situation in Myanmar.
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Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi (second right) is accompanied by her Brunei counterpart Eriwan Yusof (second left) as she meets with the oil-rich country's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (right) in Bandar Seri Begawan, on Wednesday. (The Jakarta Post/Indonesian Foreign Ministry)
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ndonesia has urged current ASEAN chair Brunei to “act as family” and activate regional mechanisms in response to the situation in Myanmar, amid increasing international pressure on ASEAN to help solve the constitutional crisis.
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.
Read also: Indonesia ‘shuttles’ to Brunei to marshal unified Myanmar coup response
