Decisive Regional Leadership Required To Guide Myanmar --  Malaysian Advisory Group On Myanmar

KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 (Bernama) -- Stabilising the situation in Myanmar and addressing its negative spillover effects on the entire region urgently requires strong, decisive regional leadership and diplomacy to guide Myanmar back to a path of stability, peace and democracy, said chairman of the Malaysian Advisory Group on Myanmar Syed Hamid Albar. Ahead of the special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting in Jakarta this Saturday, Syed Hamid, who is also a former Malaysian Foreign Minister, has urged ASEAN leaders to call for immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar following the Feb 1 military coup, adding that safety and protection of the civilian population must be a top priority at the meeting. He said ASEAN must make it clear that state failure is a serious threat to regional stability and that the Tatmadaw (Myanmar's armed forces) must assume responsibility and work with ASEAN to resolve the crisis, and prevent the crisis from deepening further. ASEAN must also make it clear that it is not conferring legitimacy to the Tatmadaw’s State Administration Council but is engaging them to find a solution to the crisis, he said in a statement Thursday. "In addition to the threats posed to ASEAN’s decades-long legacy of regional stability, ASEAN’s credibility is also at stake, given that the coup and conduct of the Tatmadaw are in blatant violation of the ASEAN Charter and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration," he pointed out. Syed Hamid said that for the first time since its founding in 1967, the 10-member regional grouping faces the prospects of one of its Member States imploding and becoming a failed state. “The impacts of state failure will reverberate beyond Myanmar’s borders and pose a clear and real threat to regional peace and security. It is in the immediate and long-term interest of ASEAN to prevent state failure in Myanmar,” he further said. He addded that ASEAN leaders should offer mediation through an ASEAN Special Envoy, a high-level figure from an ASEAN Member State to bring the parties to the negotiating table and forge a roadmap to resolve the crisis. Syed Hamid said ASEAN should also call for a Humanitarian Pause to be implemented throughout the country and for an ASEAN Emergency Response Assessment Team (ERAT) to be deployed to conduct a rapid needs assessment in affected areas and for humanitarian assistance to be provided through the United Nations, the Red Cross and humanitarian Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), including the deployment of civilian monitors from ASEAN countries to ensure that aid is delivered impartially to those in need. “ASEAN Member States should agree to offer refuge and protection to all those fleeing Myanmar and any refugee problems should be coordinated by the ASEAN Secretariat as shared burden among member states and only as a temporary measure until the crisis is over,” he said. He said ASEAN countries and other affected countries such as China and India should work together to prevent the rise of transnational criminal networks, while ASEAN should also engage the United Nations and wider international community, including the region’s private sector, in a plan for stabilisation, humanitarian and development assistance, and economic recovery in Myanmar. He said protection of civilians and restoration of essential services must be of utmost primacy in these plans. He stressed that the rapidly eroding situation in Myanmar will put the country and the region’s security and stability at risk. “Myanmar’s already weak public health system is collapsing and the inability to manage the COVID-19 pandemic will hinder the region’s recovery as its weak health system is being pushed to the brink of collapse and has significantly set back Myanmar’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic. “COVID-19 PCR tests have stopped since February 1, and a shipment of 3.5 million vaccines by the COVAX facility has not been delivered,” he said. Syed Hamid added that failure to manage COVID-19 in Myanmar will also have a major impact on the region, creating a new ‘virus pipeline’ and delaying recovery of the region as a whole. He said Myanmar’s economy is imploding and millions are at risk of food insecurity and being plunged into deeper poverty, while internal displacement is rising dramatically and the region will see an increase in refugees flows from Myanmar. “The UN estimates that at least 250,000 people have been displaced within Myanmar. Violent crackdowns in urban areas and renewed conflict in ethnic areas such as Karen and Kachin State are driving people to flee their homes. “These numbers are in addition to some 330,000 persons who were already displaced before the takeover of power, including in Karen State, Kachin State, Shan State and Rakhine State. A refugee crisis is inevitable and Myanmar’s neighbouring countries Thailand, China, India and Bangladesh and other ASEAN nations will undoubtedly bear the brunt of the outflow,” he said. He said armed conflict is set to increase in many parts of Myanmar as a result of the coup, adding that the crisis in Myanmar has sparked renewed clashes in many border regions, and has effectively derailed Myanmar’s peace process. He added that increased instability will also present new opportunities for various forms of transnational crime to thrive. Myanmar has been going through political upheaval following the coup on Feb 1, where key civilian leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi were detained under house arrest while over 700 anti-coup protesters had been killed by security forces. The Malaysian Advisory Group on Myanmar, comprised of a group of eminent and concerned individuals from Malaysia’s public and private sectors, was established in March 2021 as an independent and credible council to provide sound analysis to the Government of Malaysia on issues relating to the situation in Myanmar and the impact on Malaysia and the wider ASEAN and Asian region. -- BERNAMA