Indonesia presses regional effort to resolve Myanmar crisis in wake of coup

REGIONAL diplomatic efforts to resolve Myanmar’s political crisis gathered pace as protests continued in Yangon and other cities calling for the country’s military to stand down and Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government to be returned to power.

Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi visited the Thai capital of Bangkok as part of her efforts to co-ordinate a regional response to the crisis triggered by Myanmar’s military coup on February 1.

Also making the trip to neighbouring Thailand was the foreign minister appointed by Myanmar’s new military government, retired army colonel Wunna Maung Lwin, said a Thai government official.

Another Thai official said Mr Lwin met with Thai foreign minister Don Pramudwinai as well as Thai prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, himself a former army chief who first took power in a military coup.

There was no immediate word whether Ms Marsudi also met the Myanmar diplomat.

Indonesia and fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are seeking to promote some concessions by Myanmar’s military that could ease tensions before there is more violence.

The regional grouping, to which Thailand and Myanmar also belong, believes dialogue with the generals is a more effective method of achieving concessions than more confrontational methods, such as sanctions, often advocated by western nations.

Opposition to the coup within Myanmar continued yesterday, with a tense stand-off in the country’s second-biggest city, Mandalay, where police with riot shields and rifles blocked the path of about 3,000 teachers and students.

After about two hours, during which demonstrators played protest songs and listened to speeches condemning the coup, the crowd moved away.

On Saturday, police and soldiers shot dead two people in Mandalay as they broke up a strike by dock workers.

Earlier in the same week they had violently dispersed a rally in front of a state bank.

Also yesterday, about 150 people from a Christian group gathered in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, to call for restoration of democracy.