Malaysia has called on ASEAN to take strong measures against Myanmar’s junta at the bloc’s annual summit in Jakarta.
Reuters reported that the unusually blunt message from Malaysia came after Southeast Asian representatives met to review the bloc’s failed peace plan on Myanmar, known as the five-point consensus.
ASEAN leaders agreed the peace plan during an emergency summit in April 2021, two months after Myanmar’s coup but the junta has ignored the proposals.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir on Monday said the junta has created obstacles that blocked the implementation of the peace plan.
“Malaysia and other member countries gave their views that we cannot allow this to continue without strong and effective measures imposed on the junta,” he said, according to media reports.
He did not name the other members who shared Malaysia’s view.
Leaders are meeting in Jakarta this week to discuss the crisis in Myanmar and China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
Ahead of the summit, ASEAN civil society representatives called on regional leaders to cut ties with the junta and establish official relations with the National Unity Government, National Unity Consultative Council and ethnic revolutionary organizations and civil society groups at the ASEAN People’s Forum on Sunday.
Myanmar’s junta has ignored the five-point peace plan and its demand to halt violence and hold dialogue among all parties, despite junta chief Min Aung Hlaing agreeing to it in April 2021.
The junta continues to ramp up its nationwide crackdown to suppress opposition to military rule.
As punishment, the bloc has banned the regime’s leadership from joining ASEAN summits but continues to allow senior military officers and junta ministers to join lower-level meetings.
