As I see it | Myanmar coup: Asean sitting on the fence shouldn’t be an option
- Asean countries including Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines stand divided in their response to the coup against Aung San Suu Kyi’s government
- Will the lack of a unified front on the matter deal yet another blow to the group’s credibility?
Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia expressed concerns over the power seizure, calling for restraint and a peaceful resolution of the matter, while the Philippines initially said it would “watch and see” what developments occurred, then said that it, too, had concerns before finally maintaining that the issue was strictly an internal affair.
Cambodia and Thailand also said the coup was an internal matter. Vietnam, Laos and Brunei and Laos have yet to issue formal statements, but Brunei, as the current chair of Asean, has called for a dialogue among parties, reconciliation and a “return to normalcy”.
Given such divisions, it is doubtful that Asean itself can come up with a unified voice of censure apart from its symbolic statement on the matter on Monday. Coercive measures? Undoubtedly out of the question for a regional body that had long insisted its principle of non-interference is essential in maintaining Asean’s “centrality” among regional institutions.
When Myanmar became an Asean member in 1997, the group relied on a policy of “constructive engagement” to persuade the country’s then ruling military junta to be more accommodating of its citizens’ aspirations and to seek a compromise with Suu Kyi.
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Myanmar military coup: Yangon residents make noise to protest against army takeover
But it took 13 years more years for Myanmar to hold a multiparty election that resulted in a military-civilian power-sharing government, and 18 years for it to relinquish majority power to the National League for Democracy.
