Plans To Meet Myanmar Military Regime Leader Reap Criticism, Cambodian PM: Don't Disturb Me!

JAKARTA - Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, strongly condemned the criticism leveled at him regarding plans to meet Myanmar's military regime leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

"Don't bother me", he stressed, saying the visit to the Land of a Thousand Pagodas was aimed at helping improve ASEAN's image, quoted from The Irrawaddy on December 16.

Prime Minister Hun Sen is scheduled to visit Myanmar and meet regime leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing early next month. The trip has come under fire, as he will be the first foreign head of government to meet the coup leader, whose forces have killed more than 1,300 civilians since seizing power from the country's elected government in February.

Cambodia is now the Chair of ASEAN. Meanwhile, Myanmar, a member of the regional bloc, has been in political and social turmoil since the coup as a majority of its people resisted the takeover, even 11 months later.

Relations between Myanmar and ASEAN took a turn for the worse recently after the bloc removed the regime leader from a summit of Southeast Asian leaders for failing to take agreed steps to resolve the crisis.

"Give me a chance to solve (the problem)", Hun Sen said on Wednesday, according to Cambodian media outlets.

"ASEAN cannot be called ASEAN if there are only nine members. ASEAN must save itself from the ASEAN 9 situation", he stressed, referring to Myanmar's exclusion from a summit recently convened by the bloc, which consists of 10 Southeast Asian countries.

Previously, Prime Minister Hun Sen received a visit by the Myanmar military regime-appointed foreign minister last week in the capital of Phnom Penh.

Hun Sen's visit raises questions as to whether ASEAN's unified stance on Myanmar will last, now that Cambodia has taken over the leadership of the regional bloc. Before confirming his visit last week, he signaled he was ready to travel to Myanmar, which he said was entitled to attend the ASEAN meeting.

In dire need of recognition abroad and respect at home, the military regime is likely to take a visit from the country holding the ASEAN chair seriously, stung by the bloc's decision to exclude Min Aung Hlaing from the summit.

At the same time, Prime Minister Hun Sen faced criticism, because his visit would give legitimacy to the bloodied regime.

“Please don't bother me, give me some time (to meet the Myanmar leader). I am not your teacher and you are not my teacher", he insisted, responding to criticism of his visit, according to Cambodian media.

Separately, US State Department Adviser Derek Chollet urged Cambodia last week not to make any concessions to Myanmar's military junta, when Phnom Penh led ASEAN.

The Myanmar Coup. The VOI editor continues to monitor the political situation in one of the ASEAN member countries. Civilian casualties continued to fall. Readers can follow news about the Myanmar military coup by tapping this link.