The Myanmar crisis took center stage at the special ASEAN leaders’ meeting held in Jakarta, Indonesia on Saturday, April 24, 2021. The widely anticipated meeting was attended by ASEAN leaders and Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the murderous junta chief of Myanmar.
Three proposals were put forward by Malaysia: “Stop the killing and violence against the civilians, the prompt and unconditional release of all political detainees”, and to allow the ASEAN chair and Secretary- General access into Myanmar.
After the closed door meeting was over, it was declared that a consensus has been reached on ending the Myanmar crisis. Really? What have they discussed? What brilliant conclusion was reached?
ASEAN’s basic operating principle has traditionally been ‘non interference in domestic affairs’, along with decision making by consensus. So far, the Asian body had been hiding behind this principle and had not been able to intervene or address the humanitarian issues of Myanmar, in the past. The Malaysian leader also stated that ASEAN’s efforts on Myanmar depend on the willingness of the Tatmadaw to cooperate. Is it meaningful or just lip service given under mounting pressure by US, UN, EU and China?
First of all, ASEAN is an economic union of ten members of Southeast Asian Nations with questionable political background. Three of the member states Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia are Communist Governments, Brunei, an absolute Muslim Monarchy, and Indonesia and Malaysia are liberal Muslim states. Thailand and Burma/Myanmar are controlled by military institutions and the Philippines a democratic nation run by undemocratic authority.
The First original members, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines Singapore and Thailand were formed in 1967; their aims and main goals were to deter the Communist expansion to South East Asia, and to be a leading voice on regional trade and security issues. Since Myanmar and Laos became a member in 1997 and Cambodia followed later, the new members did not have a common conception of the goals of the body. While the emphasis was on consultation, consensus and non interference forces by the older members, who focused on co-operation and co-ordination, the new members Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos focused on only non- interference. Needless to say, it has become a dysfunctional body unable to determine a collective action when a situation arises.
The issues and policy on Myanmar, a member state has more than once emerged into the international forum and ASEAN had failed to implement any credible actions to resolve the issues. Myanmar and Thailand had numerous military coups in the past with no respect on basic democratic foundations and freedom, but there was no opposition from the members with the same ‘military coup - culture’. In more than five decades, Myanmar military overthrew the same political party NLD, a few times but NLD kept winning with majority votes each time.
NLD won 82% of the votes in the November, 2020 election and was on the brink to convene its new government when General Min Aung Hlaing staged a coup on February 1, 2021.The third or fourth generation of Myanmar people (Gen Z) could not accept this military authoritarian regime and immediately opposed the coup by a country wide peaceful demonstration on the streets. As usual, Myanmar military with escalating brutality used excessive forces and turned cities into battlefields, killing its own citizens. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) an advocacy group has reported that the death toll exceeding 750 included many children. Trapping and incarcerating demonstrator’s enmasse, more than 3500 have been detained and ill-treated in crowded jails. The academic sector of the country, doctors, lawyers, engineers, university professors, university students, and journalists arbitrarily arrested. Recently it has been reported that young, beautiful, educated girls have been targeted, mercilessly beaten, beyond recognition and sexually assaulted. Min Aung Hlaing and his despicable thugs have committed these and other horrendous crimes and yet he was given a podium to speak at the ASEAN meeting to justify his reign of terror on citizens. Shame on ASEAN for being a partner in crime with Min Aung Hlaing.
The ASEAN group chair Brunei declared that the meeting was a success and the members had agreed on a 5pt. consensus. The consensus; immediate cessation of violence, constructive dialogue among all parties, appointment of a special envoy to facilitate the dialogue, acceptance of humanitarian aid, to allow the special envoy a visit to Myanmar- not a strong enough univocal response, it lacked commitment, it lacked a timeline to release all political prisoners, and to end the violence. It failed to include the true representatives of the Myanmar people the National Unity Government (NUG). Most importantly, it did not include to hold Min Aung Hlaing accountable for all his crimes. ASEAN approach sounded like a kindergarten teacher, with a slap on the wrist, reprimanding and calling Min Aung Hlaing “a bad boy” for his irresponsible behavior.
The outcome of the summit is proven non committal in its efforts and raises these questions:
Why was the newly formed legitimate NUG of Myanmar not mentioned or even recognized?
By denying the representatives of Myanmar, NUG’s entry to attend the summit, ASEAN has in some way treated Min Aung Hlaing as the representative of Myanmar’s government, even when some members call for the release of elected leaders and to restore democracy in the country.
Without NUG the legitimate government’s presence it was only a one sided talk, not a fair discussion, yet the illegal murderous military chief was invited to present his lies.
Past history has shown that ASEAN has no integrity, credibility, and therefore no authority to exert influence on the military dictators in Myanmar.
ASEAN did not show empathy or respect for the sacrifices of 700 plus lives lost and thousands detained and the inhumane brutality in Burma to bring democratic changes.
In the future, if ASEAN keep hiding behind their “non- interference” principle and cannot provide a solution to the crisis then “Stay out of Myanmar’s affairs”.
Myanmar cannot waste precious time on the weak insignificant responses and diversion tactics of ASEAN. If ASEAN fails to broker a face- saving resolution before Myanmar’s crisis worsens, somehow the people of Myanmar will eventually find a solution and establish a genuine democratic Federal Democratic nation, by its own people power.
The New Myanmar’s International Policy makers will select a Foreign Policy with individual bilateral agreement or multinational interest of member states, not like a “Stir Fry Politics” a jumbled mix of everything to rake in business profits by compromising neighboring countries’ Democracy, Human Rights and Freedom.
Statement after statement have been issued warning the military of the consequences he is facing, but there he was a shameless, bold- faced liar speaking to the members spouting out more lies. These evil military generals and their mindless, spineless, ‘yes ‘ men , have very good manipulative skills honed to perfection for decades, and the world should not be deceived by their lies anymore. Though Western countries highly anticipated that ASEAN could intervene, the policies and political attitudes of the individual member states, mostly non democratic makes it difficult to tackle contentious issues.
We cannot count the death toll rising each day and tally it up like points scored in a sports game. While leaders around the world are just skirting around the issues at hand and just adopting a “wait and see” approach, the crisis in Myanmar is reaching a catastrophic state.
In addition to the violence, Myanmar is facing a serious economic crisis, with rising food and fuel prices stemming from the coup, according to the UN World Food Programme. We desperately need food, shelter and healthcare for the almost quarter of a million people displaced from their homes due to the air strikes by the military on their homes.
The courageous people of Myanmar / Burma have a destination in mind - Democracy and are willing to sacrifice everything to march towards that destination together with NUG and all those friendly nations of the civilized world.
We Shall Prevail!!
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