As Asean’s foot-dragging fuels anger in Myanmar, what next for ‘special envoy’ Erywan Yusof?

It’s been more than six months since the coup in Myanmar, yet the Association of Southeast Asian Nations appears to have done little other than appoint Brunei’s Erywan Yusof as a ‘special envoy’

A perception among Myanmar’s conflict-weary people that Asean has abandoned them is being made worse by suspicions the bloc is inching towards granting Min Aung Hlaing’s junta legitimacy

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Protesters prepare in Yangon, Myanmar, prepare to burn the flag of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:00am, 28 Aug 2021Updated: 9:09pm, 28 Aug 2021

It took the Association of Southeast Asian Nations nearly three months to convene a special meeting to discuss Myanmar’s February 1 coup.

Then, a further three months elapsed before the bloc agreed on appointing Brunei’s senior diplomat Erywan Yusof as the special envoy to the violence-wracked nation.

Now, some three weeks have passed since that August 4 appointment, and the bloc has still offered little indication of what is to come.

This week, Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said he hoped Erywan, Brunei’s second foreign affairs minister, would have progress to report in November – nine months down the line from the coup – when the Asean bloc holds its annual meetings with world leaders.

“[Asean is] not as effective or as quick as we would have hoped for. But this is a difficult situation,” Balakrishnan told Reuters.

Can Myanmar’s pandemic and conflict-weary citizens actually count on Asean, and other external stakeholders such as China, to alleviate their plight?

This question featured heavily in a Myanmar-focused panel discussion this week involving leading scholars and commentators.