Asean has reaffirmed its “united position” on its five-point consensus on Myanmar after a humiliating fortnight.
Now, five long years after its adoption, Asean must finally require the Myanmar military junta’s full compliance.
At the 59th Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Manila last week, Asean foreign ministers discussed “possible elements for assessing progress in Myanmar, in line with the [five-point consensus]” and to inform “further steps” that the bloc should take.
Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary and special envoy of the Asean chair on Myanmar, Theresa Lazaro, added that Asean would develop formal benchmarks ahead of its November leaders’ summit to assess the military junta’s progress in implementing the agreement.
The foreign ministers failed to propose a single action to implement their commitments.
Asean posturing on concrete benchmarks in the face of junta recalcitrance is not new. But it is now up against the arrogance of the inflated junta leader and accused war criminal Min Aung Hlaing.
And Min Aung Hlaing quickly showed his total contempt for his would-be Asean friends.
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Just days after Asean foreign ministers made the ill-conceived step of meeting with the junta’s ‘foreign minister’ in Thailand, the junta’s propaganda machine publicly posted an AI-generated cartoon addressed to SAC-M that celebrated the junta’s “diplomatic masterstroke” in fooling Asean. The cartoon claimed that the junta had “outmanoeuvred all pressure unlocking Asean’s high-level doors on its own terms with zero compromises”.
This was swiftly followed by a statement from the junta’s ‘foreign ministry’ boasting that the junta’s new phoney ‘parliament’ had rejected the five-point consensus and that Min Aung Hlaing’s make-believe government was “bound to respect the decision” in order to uphold “national interests and sovereignty”.
This is a steroid-driven carbon copy of 2021, when Asean’s political engagement with the junta fast ended in public humiliation. In 2021, Min Aung Hlaing agreed to the five-point consensus and then repudiated it 24 hours later. Asean has been fooled countless times since then and it continues.
More egregious, Asean’s repeated failure to take the junta to task continues to have devastating, real-world consequences for civilians. As Asean foreign ministers met in Manila last Monday, the disfigured bodies of four people, including three young humanitarian aid workers, were found dumped in Myanmar’s southern Dawei district. The junta had reportedly abducted and used them as human shields.
Asean must judge the junta on its words and deeds and assume the junta’s continued five-point consensus non-compliance. On this basis, it must immediately:
- Finalise and make public its five-point consensus compliance benchmarks, setting an implementation deadline. Concrete benchmarks must include an end to the junta’s violence, the full, immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to all those in need.
- Adopt a series of escalating punitive steps that will be triggered by the junta’s non-compliance with the benchmarks.
- Reinstate its ban on high-level engagement with all senior junta officials.
- Decouple the role of special envoy on Myanmar from the rotating Asean chair. The next special envoy should be a full-time, multi-year and well-resourced appointee, selected after broad consultation with legitimate Myanmar actors and communities.
Asean should also be pragmatic and look beyond the five-point consensus given the junta’s repeated rejection of the agreement. In anticipation of non-compliance, it must start developing a new operating framework to supplement and ultimately replace the five-point concensus, with a clear endgame in mind.
Finally, Asean must intensify its formal engagement with Myanmar’s legitimate political and civil society actors. This should include the full membership of the Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union, including the National Unity Government, ethnic organisations, Myanmar civil society and representatives of minority communities, including those who have been forced to leave Myanmar.
While the junta torches Myanmar and destabilises the region, these legitimate actors are shaping the foundations of a genuine, inclusive and sustainable federal democratic union.
Asean must support them not only to meet its professed commitment to the genuine will and aspirations of the Myanmar people, but also out of self-interest. With the world watching, Asean has more than pride on the line.
Issued by:
Dato’ Sri Saifuddin Abdullah
Marzuki Darusman
Yanghee Lee
Chris Sidoti
The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.
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