ASEAN tells Myanmar military rulers peace should be priority, not election

Southeast Asian countries have urged Myanmar’s military government to start dialogue and put an end to hostilities immediately by telling the military government that holding elections in the middle of an escalating civil war should not be its top priority.

The Foreign Minister of host Malaysia, host Malaysia’s foreign minister, demanded on Sunday that the conflicting sides in member country Myanmar put an end to the fighting and that its representative grant unrestricted humanitarian access.

After a ministerial retreat on the island of Langkawi, Mohamad Hasan said, “Malaysia wants to know what Myanmar has in mind.”

After its military leaders were prohibited from attending formal ASEAN meetings, Hasan claimed Myanmar provided a briefing to the group regarding plans for a general election this year. But the bloc wants Myanmar’s government to ensure peace before any polls are held, he said.

“We said the election has to be inclusive. The election cannot be in isolation, it has to involve all stakeholders”, he said. “We told them the election is not our priority. Our priority is to stop the violence”.

Since the election of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in early 2021, Myanmar has experienced hostility, which led to a widening armed rebellion that has taken control of large swaths of the nation.

The military government plans to hold an election this year despite being battered on numerous fronts, its economy in disarray, and dozens of political parties banned. Those who disagree have called it a sham attempt to keep the generals in power through proxies.

Othman Hashim, a former diplomat with the UN’s “alarming levels,” has been appointed as the special envoy for the crisis in Myanmar, where nearly 20 million people, or more than a third of the population, need humanitarian aid, according to Malaysia, the country’s chair.

Hashim’s “soon” visit to Myanmar will help persuade all parties to implement ASEAN’s five-point peace plan, which has not progressed since it was made public months after the coup, Mohamad claimed.

Regional tensions on the agenda

Hasan added that during the discussion about the region’s potential repercussions with China as a result of Donald Trump’s second term being in office.

He claimed that the ministers raised concerns about regional tensions if the two superpowers competed. In light of the uncertainty surrounding the world, he claimed that ASEAN ministers stressed the need to promote regional cohesion and promote economic integration as top priorities.

Following last year’s violent clashes in the waters, tensions were high on the agenda in the South China Sea, one of the world’s most important shipping lanes, where about $3 trillion in annual ship-borne trade is conducted.

China’s exclusive economic zones, which Beijing claims are operating lawfully in its waters, have also suss out to Vietnam and Malaysia.

The majority of the South China Sea is ruled by China. But ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, along with Taiwan, have also overlapping claims.

Although China and ASEAN have agreed to create a code of conduct for the South China Sea, discussions have slowed down.

The ministers “highlighted the need to keep the momentum expediting the code of conduct,” according to Mohamad, who praised the progress made so far.

The foreign minister of the Philippines, a key United States ally, told the Reuters news agency on Saturday it was time to start negotiating thorny “milestone issues” for the code, including its scope, whether it can be legally binding and its effect on third-party states.