JAKARTA: Southeast Asian leaders have sought a united voice on the years-long Myanmar crisis as they met in Indonesia on Tuesday.
The south-Asian country has been ravaged by deadly violence since a 2021 military coup which deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s government and unleashed a bloody crackdown on dissent.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — long decried by critics as a toothless talking shop – is divided over how to deal with Myanmar’s junta rulers.
“The future challenges are getting heavier and they cause competition for influence by the big powers,” said Joko Widodo, Indonesian President while opening one-day talks in the capital city of Jakarta.
“However, ASEAN has agreed not to become a proxy for any power, and to cooperate with anyone for peace and prosperity,” he said.
“We must ensure that this ship continues to sail and that we have to be captains of our own ship to achieve peace.”
A draft joint communique left blank its Myanmar section, belying the lack of consensus in the 10-member bloc whose peace efforts have so far been fruitless. As Myanmar’s junta ignores international criticism and refuses to engage with its opponents, the ASEAN leaders will try to devise a united position on the conflict.
Chair Indonesia has pushed for the junta — which has been barred from the bloc’s high-level meetings — to implement a five-point plan agreed two years back, to end violence and restart negotiations.
Thailand has held unilateral meetings with the Myanmar junta and deposed leader Suu Kyi in recent months, further dividing the bloc. The junta’s main ally Cambodia will be represented by new PM Hun Manet on his first foreign visit.
Some in the bloc fear Bangkok’s different track has undermined Indonesia’s “quiet diplomacy” as the ASEAN chair, with Jakarta holding meetings with a range of actors in the conflict over the past year.
But experts said all efforts to speak with the junta over the crisis should be welcomed.
“I think Indonesia and Thailand need to just get along on this and Indonesia needs to give space to others who may have access. It should not be a competition,” former Indonesian ambassador to the United States Dino Patti Djalal told reporters. —AFP/APP
