Asean will not give up

Southeast Asia’s Asean grouping will not give up trying to end violence in fellow member Myanmar even though the ruling military there has made no progress on a peace plan it agreed with the bloc two years ago, Indonesia said yesterday.

Frustration has mounted among some members of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations with Myanmar and how to handle its bloody political turmoil that has raised questions about the group’s effectiveness and unity.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo was forthright in his criticism, telling an Asean summit in the Indonesian town of Labuan Bajo that Myanmar’s generals had made no progress on a five-point Asean peace plan.

He also said human rights violations in Myanmar could not be tolerated and violence there should be halted and its people protected.

Indonesia is Asean chair this year and its foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, told the summit that principles of democracy and the rule of law were enshrined in the Asean charter.

“A lack of progress not does mean that we should give up,” Retno said at the closing of the summit.

Myanmar has been in violent turmoil since the army overthrew a government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.

The coup triggered widespread protests that the military crushed. The army has since been fighting ethnic minority insurgents seeking self-determination and allied pro-democracy fighters.

Asean last month condemned the Myanmar military over one of its latest and most deadly air strikes that killed at least 100 people. The junta says it is fighting “terrorists”.

As Asean chair, Indonesia has been talking to all sides in recent months in an attempt to get talks going but the criticism from Indonesia yesterday underscored the absence of any results.

“I must speak candidly. On implementation of the 5PC, there has not been significant progress,” Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is known, said earlier, referring to what Asean calls its “five-point consensus”, or “5PC” for Myanmar.

Myanmar’s top general agreed to the plan, which calls for an end to violence, humanitarian access and dialogue among all parties, in April 2021 at a meeting in Jakarta but the military has largely ignored it.

Jokowi called for unity on Myanmar. “Asean unity is required to decide on the next steps,” he said.