PUTRAJAYA, 26 Jul: Southeast Asian countries should be given some latitude to engage informally with Myanmar on an individual basis to help resolve a deepening crisis there, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday.
\nAnwar said he and visiting Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed during talks on the need to strengthen the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in ending the violence that started after Myanmar\u2019s army seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s elected government on Feb. 1, 2021.
\nAt the same time, Anwar said neighboring countries should be given \u201csome flexibility, room and space\u201d to engage with Myanmar on an informal basis. But he said it must not come at the expense of \u201csacrificing the issues of human rights and the treatment of minorities,\u201d particularly the ethnic Muslim Rohingya and others.
\nSome ASEAN countries, including current chair Indonesia, have been frustrated with Myanmar\u2019s refusal to cooperate with a peace plan forged in 2021 that called for an immediate end to the violence and dialogue to be brokered through an ASEAN special envoy. The 10-member bloc has banned Myanmar\u2019s generals from attending ASEAN meetings.
\nThailand has already taken a bilateral route to engage Myanmar. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said he met earlier this month with Suu Kyi in detention and that she was open to engage in talks. He is the only foreign government official known to have been given access to Suu Kyi. The military government had earlier refused requests by ASEAN special envoys to meet her.
\nDon said his meeting with Suu Kyi was \u201can approach from the friends of Myanmar\u201d to secure a peaceful settlement. Southeast Asian diplomats told The Associated Press that Thailand was taking extra steps to help ease the crisis amid fears that an escalation of violence could drive large numbers of refugees from Myanmar into Thai territory.
\nMarcos, in a joint press conference with Anwar on Wednesday, didn\u2019t mention Myanmar by name. But he agreed that countries should be able to use the bilateral route to resolve problems.
\n\u201cI think that this will be an important aspect to all the issues that ASEAN is presently facing and to all the issues that the member states are presently worrying about,\u201d he said.
\nMyanmar\u2019s military takeover and its crackdown on armed resistance has plunged the country into deadly chaos. Western and European governments, including the United States, have imposed sanctions on Myanmar\u2019s military government and demanded the immediate release of Suu Kyi and other political detainees.
\nSuu Kyi, 78, is serving a total of 33 years imprisonment after being convicted on a raft of charges that her supporters and rights groups say were politically motivated in an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military\u2019s takeover while preventing her from returning to politics.
\nMore than 3,750 civilians, including pro-democracy activists, have been killed by security forces and nearly 24,000 arrested since the military takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights group that keeps tallies of arrests and casualties.
\nMarcos, who arrived Tuesday, will also attend a business event and investment forum before leaving Thursday. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PUTRAJAYA, 26 Jul: Southeast Asian countries should be given some latitude to engage informally with Myanmar on an individual basis to help resolve a deepening crisis there, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday. Anwar said he and visiting Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed during talks on the need to strengthen the role of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-221209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}