At The ASEAN Summit, Indonesia Hopes Myanmar's Political Commitment To Peaceful Dialogue

The meeting of ASEAN leaders with AIPA representatives in the ASEAN Summit series in Labuan Bajo on Wednesday 10 May. (IG Jokowi)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo hopes that all stakeholders in Myanmar have a political commitment to conduct internal dialogue in order to realize the prolonged conflict resolution.

"We hope that Myanmar will also have a political commitment to conducting internal dialogue among themselves," he said when delivering a press statement closing the series of the 42nd ASEAN Summit (KTT) in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Thursday, May 11, which was confiscated by Antara.

Jokowi reminded again that Indonesia has been taking silent diplomacy (non-megaphone diplomacy) to all stakeholders in Myanmar.

According to Jokowi, this attitude is also in line with the mandate of the Five-Point Consensus formulated by ASEAN leaders in April 2021 to help end the conflict in Myanmar.

Three points from the consensus calls for an end to violence, dialogue with all stakeholders, and appoints special envoys to facilitate mediation and dialogue.

In addition, the consensus also urges the junta to allow ASEAN to provide humanitarian assistance to Myanmar citizens, as well as allow ASEAN special envoys to visit and meet with stakeholders in Myanmar.

ASEAN considers that so far the Myanmar military junta has failed to implement the Five-Point Consensus, so they have always excluded the Myanmar military junta from high-level meetings of the region's organization.

"Based on the decision of the Leaders, Myanmar was not invited to a political level meeting," said Jokowi.

Nevertheless, Jokowi emphasized that the Indonesian government is ready to hold talks with all stakeholders in Myanmar for humanitarian reasons.

"Indonesia is ready to talk to anyone, including the junta and all stakeholders in Myanmar, for humanitarian purposes," he said.

Leaders at the 42nd ASEAN Summit emphasized that acts of abuse against human values that occur in Myanmar cannot be tolerated.

ASEAN leaders also issued a joint statement on the sidelines of the 42nd Summit supporting President Jokowi's statement in response to the attack recently experienced by the ASEAN Coordination Center for Humanitarian and Disaster Management Assistance (AHA Center) and the ASEAN monitoring team in Myanmar.

"We support the efforts of the Chair of ASEAN, including Indonesia's efforts to continue the involvement of stakeholders in Myanmar, and encourage the advancement of the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus," read a statement released Wednesday, May 10.

In addition to this joint statement, the 42nd ASEAN Summit also released at least 10 other documents during the high-level meeting which took place 10-11 May 2023.

The documents include Declaration on the Eradication of Human Trafficking Due to the Abuse of Technology, Declaration on the Ecosystem Development of Regional Electric Vehicles, Declaration on Increasing Connectivity of Regional Payments and Promotion of Local Currency Transactions, Declaration on Placement and Protection of Migrant Fishermen, Declaration on Protection of Migrant Workers and Family Members during Crisis Situations, and Declaration on One Health Initiative.

In addition, there is also a joint statement, namely the Statement on the Establishment of the ASEAN Village Network, the Statement of the Latest Attack on the Iringan AHA Center and the ASEAN Supervisory Team in Myanmar, the Statement on the Development of ASEAN's Vision after 2025, the Statement on Strengthening ASEAN Capacity and Effectiveness of Institutions, and the Statement of the Leader of the 42nd ASEAN Summit.