ASEAN LEADERS IN JAKARTA TO HEAR OUT JUNTA CHIEF

Meeting should not be seen as legitimising military takeover, says former UN envoy Razali

ASEAN leaders will gather in Jakarta tomorrow for a special summit to hear firsthand, accounts of the political crisis in Myanmar. Former United Nations special envoy to Myanmar Tan Sri Razali Ismail said the special Asean leaders’ meeting should not be interpreted as the regional grouping recognising or legitimising the military takeover.

“Leaders have the chance to listen and ask important questions. The Asean meeting (is for the junta chief) to explain.

“It does not mean that Asean will recognise and give legitimacy to the military takeover,” he said yesterday .

Myanmar junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing is expected to attend the meeting, his first official overseas trip since the military seized power on Feb 1. Malaysia is one of the most vocal Asean members to voice concern over the coup in Myanmar.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Indonesian President Joko Widodo met in Jakarta in February, and jointly called for the special meeting.

Muhyiddin will be among the Asean leaders to attend this crucial meeting.

A joint statement issued at the end of the 23rd Asean Annual Leaders’ Consultation at Istana Nurul Iman in Brunei on April 5 said the bloc wanted Myanmar to resolve the crisis and regain stability.

Razali, who was chairman of the UN Security Council and later president of the General Assembly, said the only way forward was for Asean to engage and urge Myanmar to resolve the conflict through negotiation.

He said this would not be easy as Asean’s 10 members had different degrees of commitment to it. “Some are less strong than Malaysia. I think no one in Asean would want this to happen.”

Razali said the junta must listen to the Myanmar people.

“What they (Tatmadaw or Myanmar’s armed forces) have done is totally unacceptable in this age.

“Now in the 21st century, you cannot kill people like that. You cannot take over (through a coup), only through constitutional means.

“Everything relies on the people. At the moment, people in Myanmar don’t want the military. The military has to listen.”

Myanmar has been going through political upheaval since the coup, with key civilian leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest.

AFP PIC Myanmar military chief General Min Aung Hlaing will attend an Asean leaders’ special meeting in Jakarta tomorrow to discuss the crisis in his country. This will be his first overseas trip since the Feb 1 coup.