KUALA LUMPUR – Asean countries must take a strong stance on Myanmar as the country risks becoming the regional pact’s first failed state, said Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar.
Syed Hamid, who is chairman of the Malaysian Advisory Group on Myanmar, said that the impact of the state’s failure would reverberate beyond Myanmar’s borders, while posing a clear and real threat to regional peace and security.
In a statement today, the former foreign minister said the regional bloc must arrange for monitoring and emergency teams to be placed in the country, and also ensure a “humanitarian pause” following the violence that has taken place there since the military coup d’état on February 1.
He said it is in Asean’s immediate and long-term interest to prevent a state failure in Myanmar.
“Asean should call for a humanitarian pause to be implemented throughout the country and for an Asean Emergency Response Assessment Team (ERAT) to be deployed to conduct rapid needs assessment in affected areas and for humanitarian assistance to be provided through the United Nations, the Red Cross and humanitarian NGOs.”
He said this included the deployment of civilian monitors from Asean countries to ensure that aid is delivered impartially to those in need.
“Asean leaders should offer mediation through an Asean special envoy, a high-level figure from an Asean member state, to bring the parties to the negotiating table and forge a road map to resolve the crisis.”
Syed Hamid’s remarks comes ahead of an emergency Asean summit in Jakarta to discuss Myanmar this weekend.
He said Asean leaders face the “bleak reality” that Myanmar is at serious risk of becoming the pact’s first failed state since its founding in 1967.
“Asean leaders should call for an immediate cessation of violence. The safety and protection of the civilian population from Myanmar must be a top priority at the summit,” he said.
“Asean must make it clear that state failure is a serious threat to regional stability and that the Tatmadaw must assume responsibility and work with Asean to resolve the crisis and prevent the crisis from deepening further,” he said, referring to the official name of Myanmar’s armed forces.
He added that Asean must also make it clear that it is not conferring legitimacy to the Tatmadaw’s State Administration Council but engaging it to find a solution to the crisis.
“Stabilising the situation in Myanmar and addressing its negative spillover effects on the entire region urgently requires strong, decisive regional leadership and diplomacy to guide Myanmar back to a path of stability, peace and democracy.
“In addition to the threats posed to Asean’s decades-long legacy of regional stability, Asean’s credibility is also at stake, given that the coup and conduct of the Tatmadaw are in blatant violation of the Asean Charter and Asean Human Rights Declaration.” – The Vibes, April 22, 2021
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