BANGKOK – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) should suspend Myanmar as a member state for the time being, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim suggested during his keynote address on the Future of Asean today.
Speaking at the event organised by the Malaysian-Thai Chamber of Commerce, the prime minister elaborated that the conflict and atrocities against ethnic minorities in Myanmar, such as the Rohingya, have impacted Asean member states.
“We should carve Myanmar out for now and I don’t think the Myanmar issue should frustrate our moves. It would be ideal if we have a strong consensus, and give a strong message to the Myanmar regime.
“You (Myanmar) have every right to have your own domestic policies and priorities but no country in these times should ever continue with discriminatory policies, marginalisation of their people, intimidation, or worse, perpetrating violence against your own people,” said Anwar to a thunderous applause by Bangkok’s business circle.
“Hopefully, that chance will be taken. To be fair, Asean has in the diplomatic nuances repeated its position but to no avail.”
He then stressed that Asean has always been fiercely independent and disliked interference from outsiders from other regions, superpowers such as the US and European nations, as well as international organisations.
However, in order to do so, the Tambun MP pointed out that Asean nations must then be able to clean their own house before those outside the region step in to deal with the atrocities committed by the Myanmar junta against its own people.
“Unfortunately, we have to deal with this semi-turbulence in Myanmar. Yesterday, I appealed to Prime Minister Prayut because you face a major border with Myanmar.
“But Malaysia has to face a major problem of 200,000 refugees – mostly the Rohingya, while there are also other refugees from Myanmar.
“We have been engaging – we have engaged for the past 40 years. There’s a limit to what we can do. I spoke to President Jokowi, Prime Minister General Prayut, Prime Minister Hsien Loong and the Sultan of Brunei, (and) hopefully, next week or so, with President Marcos from the Philippines.
“I am the most junior leader here, so I just appeal to the that we have to go beyond because we don’t want outsiders, like US and Europe to tell us what to do, but we have to do something. We have to be courageous enough to resolve this,” he said.
Despite his criticism, Anwar acknowledged that the problem in Myanmar is an internal matter but that internal matter has gone beyond the country’s borders.
Due to the unrest and conflict, many Rohingyans and other persecuted ethnicities fled the nation into neighbouring countries such as Thailand, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.
On the morning of February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military performed a coup against the democratically elected ruling party the National League for Democracy and deposed its state councillor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Acting president Myint Swe proclaimed a year-long state of emergency and declared power had been transferred to Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing.
It declared the results of the November 2020 general election invalid and stated its intent to hold a new election at the end of the state of emergency.
The coup d’état occurred the day before the Myanmar Parliament was due to swear in the members elected at the 2020 election, thereby preventing this from happening.
President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi were detained, along with ministers, their deputies, and MPs. – The Vibes, February 10, 2023
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