‘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
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.
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.
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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”.
The international community had to carry on talking with the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar military is known, Woon said. “We have no choice but to carry on dialogue with them, but to do this quietly and not shouting in public as some people want, because that’s never going to change their minds. [You do not] dislodge people with guns by shouting at them.”
Woon was among four panellists speaking in the webinar organised by the National University of Singapore’s Centre for International Law. The discussion was moderated by the retired former Singaporean diplomat Tommy Koh.
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The meaning behind Asean’s non-interference principle – among the precepts seen by the group as sacrosanct – was robustly debated by other panellists during the 90-minute event held over Zoom.
Tan Hsien-Li, co-director of the Asean Law and Policy Programme at NUS, said “bilaterally and behind the scenes” there had been precedent of “interference, or rather there is discussion, just no shaming”.
Part of the challenge of course is people don’t believe the military because of all the violence that’s occurring on the ground
The NLD was swept to victory in that vote after having first come to power in 2015 – during the country’s first competitive polls following nearly five decades of autocratic rule.
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Nonetheless, even if Asean were to play a role, trust would be a major issue in any fresh polls initiated by the junta, given the killings of protesters and detention of NLD figures that have taken place since the coup.
“Part of the challenge of course is people don’t believe the military because of all the violence that’s occurring on the ground … the issue about the elections has been overshadowed by the horror and the trauma of children being killed and everyday citizens being shot and so forth,” said Maithrii Aung Thwin.
Koh, the webinar’s moderator and former Singaporean envoy, said the city state also backed the summit but added that it was his analysis that there was so far no consensus in Asean for fresh talks.
A summit of this nature – on a crisis in one of the member states – would require the assent of all Asean nations including Myanmar, under the grouping’s consensus-based decision-making process.
Koh suggested there could instead be a “mini-Asean summit” attended by the leaders of Indonesia, Brunei – the current chair of Asean – Malaysia and Singapore.
The four countries could then “report to the bigger family when it meets in April or May”, Koh said.
