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Indonesia reiterates call to appoint ASEAN envoy to Myanmar
Indonesia's foreign minister has called once again on Brunei to move ahead with the highly anticipated appointment of an ASEAN special envoy to mediate the political and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.
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This handout photo taken on April 23 and released by the Foreign Ministry shows Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (top center right) attending an informal dinner with her ASEAN counterparts in Jakarta, ahead of the ASEAN summit on the Myanmar crisis. (AFP/Handout)
Indonesia has again raised concerns with ASEAN chair Brunei Darussalam over the protracted appointment of a special envoy to Myanmar, the nation’s top diplomat said on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) meeting on Monday.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi spoke to her counterparts from fellow Southeast Asian countries Brunei and Singapore ahead of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting hosted by Italy on Tuesday, insisting that the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy remains the most important task for the regional association to undertake immediately.
“I emphasized that for Indonesia, the commitment to grant access to the special envoy is the main thing we need so that [they] can carry out their duties properly. Without open access to all parties, it will be difficult for the special envoy to carry out their mandate, namely to mediate in an inclusive dialogue,” she said in a statement issued Tuesday in Jakarta.
The minister also met with foreign ministers from India, Japan, Spain, Italy and Canada, who also reiterated their support for ASEAN's efforts to help Myanmar overcome the political and humanitarian crisis brought about by the military coup launched in February, and which has ever since been opposed through protests, civil disobedience movements and armed confrontations.
Indonesia is working to ensure that ASEAN continues to lead the response to the crisis, during which the junta has killed 883 people and arbitrarily arrested nearly 6,400 people, according to data from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), a non-profit human rights organization based in Thailand.
“What is needed, of course, is Myanmar's commitment to follow up the Five-Point Consensus, the result of the [ASEAN leaders’ meeting] held in Jakarta on April 24,” Retno said.
Read also: ASEAN awaits the appointment of envoy to Myanmar
More than two months since Indonesia hosted the ASEAN summit, Brunei has still not appointed a special envoy to mediate talks between Myanmar’s military regime and the prodemocracy groups, one of five requirements adopted by consensus among leaders in the meeting.
The leaders also agreed to demand that the military junta stop all forms of violence and de-escalate tensions.
Earlier this month, Brunei’s Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof and ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi visited Myanmar and met with coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw. The visit was widely criticized as appearing to give the military regime some form of legitimacy, which included offering the junta the choice of appointing an envoy it was comfortable with.
