COULD ASEAN RE-ENGAGE MYANMAR?
Ultimately, the quest for credibility is not just for Myanmar but ASEAN as well. After the 2021 coup, the bloc barred Myanmar generals from participating in high-level meetings due to the SAC’s failure to make progress on the Five-Point Consensus.
The reality is that regional neighbours like Thailand and Cambodia have begun re-engaging with the SAC through trade, energy and even military cooperation.
ASEAN had opted not to send observers to the election, but Vietnam and Cambodia were among those that sent delegations in the first phase, according to Myanmar’s Ministry of Information.
Faced with its own perceived irrelevance vis-a-vis Myanmar, the electoral process, flawed as it is, could provide a way forward for ASEAN to re-engage with the SAC. Notably, in contrast to the global derision towards the election, ASEAN leaders have been deliberately cautious in their response.
Speaking as then outgoing ASEAN chair, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibraham said: “Any assessment will proceed in a sequenced manner, guided by the need to reduce violence, avoid actions that could deepen divisions or confer premature legitimacy, and preserve the possibility of an inclusive and credible pathway forward.”
Rather than treating its Five-Point Consensus dogmatically as a hill on which to die, it may make better sense for ASEAN to return to what it has traditionally done best – flexible engagement.
Tan See Seng is research adviser for the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies and senior associate at the Centre for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/myanmar-election-asean-engage-junta-humanitarian-crisis-5848726
