‘You don’t dislodge people with guns by shouting at them’: quiet talks offer best hope for end to Myanmar violence, say Asean scholars

The four scholars were speaking at a webinar organised by the National University of Singapore’s Centre for International Law

They rejected calls for a UN-led intervention in Myanmar to end the post-coup violence, highlighting diplomacy instead

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Myanmar security officers wielding shields and guns march towards the site of a protest in Mandalay Technological University in March. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:43pm, 25 Mar 2021Updated: 11:19am, 26 Mar 2021

Any attempt by the international community to invoke a United Nations “responsibility to protect” to end Myanmar’s ongoing post-coup violence would only worsen the crisis, leading Southeast Asian scholars said on Thursday.

Speaking during a webinar on the non-interference principle enshrined in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the scholars emphasised that behind-the-scenes dialogue by the 10-nation bloc with Myanmar’s military rulers remains the best hope for peace – despite calls for more strident action by the West.

They also dismissed the possibility that effective recourse could be found through the UN Security Council, saying that route was all but doomed because of superpower rivalry.

Protesters run as tear gas is fired during a crackdown by security forces on a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on March 19. Photo: AFP

Support for outside military intervention under the aegis of the UN’s Responsibility to Protect has rapidly gained traction among Myanmar citizens as the death toll from the military’s crackdown on unarmed protesters continues to increase.

The UN in 2005 recognised that external actors may have a responsibility to protect citizens of a country from gross crimes such as genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing – even it meant breaching that nation’s sovereignty. Asean nations by and large do not agree with the principle.

Walter Woon, a former Singaporean attorney general and among the drafters of Asean’s 2007 constitution, said intervention by military means in Myanmar was “impractical”. “No European government would ever think about this, no matter how much noise they make. The Americans are still stuck with the tar babies of Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.

Woon said any such intervention by Asean – called for by Myanmar citizens protesting the coup – was also out of the question as “we do not have the military ability or the economic ability”.

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