KUALA LUMPUR: Let me lay out some of my perspectives on the latest developments in the Myanmar crisis. Almost a month and a half has passed since the national leaders of most of the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) gathered at the Asean headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia. The summit was purported to deal with the Myanmar issue, and the Myanmar junta leader was even invited (but no one from the Myanmar democratic movement side). It was the first time these leaders met since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic early last year.

It is perhaps somewhat understandable due to the long summit interval that the statement issued at the conclusion of the summit went over a slew of other issues of common concern to the Asean leaders before delving into the Myanmar crisis in the last few paragraphs. But the appended so-called five-point consensus on Myanmar left, perhaps, a lot to be desired. The consensus did call for a cessation of violence from all sides although it was clear since the early days after the coup, that it was the Myanmar military that has been propagating violence throughout the country, not least toward peaceful demonstrators. There was the call for dialogue between the rival sides, but how could such dialogue be realistically and constructively held when most of the main leaders of the democratic movement, including the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, have been in jail since the coup? The consensus was conspicuously silent on any demand for the immediate and unconditional release of these democratically elected leaders as well as other political prisoners. In recent days, the junta did put up Suu Kyi and others for what can only be deemed a show trial in a kangaroo court. But that only reinforced the illegitimacy of a ruthless junta in the eyes of the democratic mainstream of the international community.

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