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Pandemic concerns overshadow ASEAN meeting in Jakarta
Nearly 740 people have been killed since Myanmar's military — known as the Tatmadaw — wrestled power from the civilian government on Feb. 1.
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Show of solidarity: ASEAN leaders pose during the opening ceremony of the 34th summit of the regional grouping in Bangkok on June 23, 2019. This was one of the last times the leaders met in-person before the COVID-19 pandemic shifted most activities online. (AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)
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SEAN leaders are set to meet in person this weekend to address a bloody crisis that has played out in Myanmar since the military instigated a coup in February.
It will be their first face-to-face gathering since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Though hopes for a peaceful solution in Myanmar are riding on the results of this high-level gathering, concerns over the pandemic have prompted some leaders to skip the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta altogether.
Brunei’s Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah, who leads the monarchy’s chairmanship of the regional bloc, announced the meeting last week after intensive rounds of diplomatic lobbying, following President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s proposal last month to hold a special summit to discuss the turmoil in Myanmar.
It would be the first time a gathering of the region’s leaders would be held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta since renovations on the building were completed in 2019.
Nearly 740 people have been killed since Myanmar's military — known as the Tatmadaw — wrestled power from the civilian government on Feb. 1. The country has gone into a tailspin since then, as opposition groups launched mass protests and many members of the public participated in civil disobedience movements against the coup leaders, posing a direct challenge to the newly established authority, the State Administrative Council.
ASEAN is currently considered to be the international community’s biggest hope for finding a solution to the political impasse, in which the Tatmadaw is clinging to power through the use of lethal force and the prodemocracy camp is demanding a full constitutional overhaul.
