Executions in Myanmar, plight of Rohingya in Bangladesh reflect poorly on Asean diplomacy
- As Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis deepens, Asean’s non-interference principle has become a barrier to safeguarding rights and freedoms
- Asean needs to decide whether it is merely a trade body or an organisation bound by common values
Myanmar’s governing military defended the executions as “justice for the people”, while the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has denounced them. A statement issued by Cambodia, the current Asean chair, described the use of the death penalty “just a week before the 55th Asean ministerial meeting” as “highly reprehensible” and damaging to regional efforts to establish peace in Myanmar.
Among Asean member states, bilateral approaches to Myanmar have varied. Thailand, for example, has been more upfront in recognising the junta’s power; the outgoing Thai ambassador to Myanmar met Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in March.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Abdul Momen has expressed concern over the delayed repatriation of the Rohingya. “The only possible solution in this regard is the repatriation of the displaced people to their homeland, the Rakhine state of Myanmar,” he said earlier this month in a plea to Asean for help in beginning the process.
Amid this crisis, analysts have condemned Asean’s principle of non-interference and adherence to nonviolent tactics to settle conflicts. Rohingya asylum seekers have been facing government pushback and forced return, violating international rules that no one should return to a place where their life or freedom is at risk.
Certainly, Asean could have played a more meaningful role in resolving the Myanmar crisis. In the words of APHR chairman Charles Santiago in 2017, “Asean needs to adapt or risk becoming irrelevant in a rapidly evolving global environment. The non-interference principle is a barrier to the realisation of human rights, as well as to Asean’s ability to act decisively to address a host of other issues. It must change if the bloc is to have any hope of becoming a pivotal actor in the international arena.”
Many agree with an APHR report’s assessment that Asean’s institutional framework has allowed member states like Myanmar the freedom to “set the parameters of Asean’s engagement”. More than five decades after its founding, Asean needs to decide whether it is merely a well-functioning trade body or a respectable regional organisation with common binding values.
The situation in Myanmar highlights the shortcomings of building an association based on economic interests alone. Such an association may well fail to serve the needs of the people for whose well-being it was first created.
In a statement on the situation in Myanmar in February, Asean chair Cambodia said that “durable peace and national reconciliation can be achieved only through an inclusive political solution that is Myanmar-owned and Myanmar-led and involving all parties concerned”.
Perhaps then Asean diplomats may wish to speak to the ordinary citizens of Myanmar about democracy, human rights and civil liberty, rather than its leaders who could not care less about these values.
Syed Munir Khasru heads the international think tank, IPAG Asia Pacific, Australia with presence in Dhaka, Delhi, Vienna and Dubai