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ASEAN pressured to abandon non-interference in Myanmar
A band of prominent political figures from across Southeast Asia have said ASEAN governments must intervene in the Myanmar coup crisis, as patience with the status quo wears thin.
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Police arrest ‘Myanmar Now’ journalist Kay Zon Nwe in Yangon on Feb. 27, as protesters demonstrate against the military coup regime. (Agence France Presse/Ye Aung Thu)
P
rominent Southeast Asian politicians are urging their governments to cast aside ASEAN’s non-interference principle and consider suspending Myanmar’s membership in the bloc as frustration grows over the limited options for regional responses to the country’s violent political crisis.
Figures from six ASEAN member states said in a joint statement on Wednesday that ASEAN governments had failed to address the crisis that had been unfolding in Myanmar since the Feb. 1 military coup, which had led to over 200 deaths and the arbitrary arrests of more than 2,000 people.
The politicians, who included exiled Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy, former Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya, Indonesian lawmaker Fadli Zon and Malaysian political heavyweight Anwar Ibrahim, said ASEAN governments were being held back by their self-imposed doctrine of non-interference.
They said the principle, which prevents members from interfering in others' internal affairs, had become a major hindrance to the development of participatory democracies and the protection of the basic rights of the peoples of ASEAN.
“All those responsible for the killing of innocent people must [...] be prosecuted and brought to justice,” proclaimed the signatories, who also included Philippine senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilingan and retired Singaporean politician Charles Chong.
Read also: Myanmar: Rethinking ASEAN noninterference
“Failing which, all other ASEAN governments must unite and suspend Myanmar’s membership in ASEAN and thereafter impose targeted trade and economic sanctions against the military junta and their associates,” they said.
