Foreign Minister Retno Urges Myanmar's Military Regime To Immediately Approve ASEAN's Special Envoy Proposal

Illustration of the arrest of Myanmar military anti-coup protesters (Wikimedia Commons/Sithu Naina/VOA)

JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi highlighted the progress of the implementation of the 5 Points of Consensus (5PCs as a result of the ASEAN Leaders' Meeting (ALM) regarding Myanmar, which was considered to have no significant progress.

This was said by Foreign Minister Retno in a series of the 54th ASEAN Foreign Ministers (AMM) meetings and then the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) virtually on August 2-6.

On this occasion, Foreign Minister Retno conveyed that the implementation of 5PCs was considered not to have experienced significant progress, especially regarding the appointment of a Special Envoy (SE). The difficulty of discussing this matter made the meeting which was originally scheduled to last for two hours, become five hours.

"Indonesia hopes that Myanmar can immediately approve ASEAN's proposal regarding the appointment of a Special Envoy so that they can immediately work with a clear mandate from ASEAN", said Foreign Minister Retno in a virtual press statement from Washington DC, Monday, August 2.

"Special Envoy must also ensure full access to guarantees, both related to meetings with various parties, as well as movements during carrying out their duties in Myanmar", continued Foreign Minister Retno.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi. (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Furthermore, Foreign Minister Retno said, Indonesia also urges the implementation of other 5PCs to be carried out immediately, because the delay in the implementation of 5PCs does not bring good for ASEAN. Therefore, Foreign Minister Retno considered that it was time for ASEAN to make a decisive decision.

"Indonesia hopes that this AMM meeting can decide on the appointment of a Special Envoy according to ASEAN's proposal along with a clear mandate, as well as the Myanmar military's commitment to providing full access to SE to carry out its duties", said Foreign Minister Retno.

"If this meeting fails to ensure concrete steps for implementing the 5PCs, then Indonesia proposes that the issue of the 5PCs follow-up be returned to the ASEAN Leaders because the mandate is once again from the leaders. We try to implement it, if there is no implantation, it must be reported back to the ASEAN Leaders to get directions on steps that ASEAN can take, in accordance with the ASEAN Charter", said Foreign Minister Retno.

She added that Indonesia also stressed that ASEAN should not remain silent with the suffering of the Myanmar people who need humanitarian assistance. For this reason, Foreign Minister Retno continued, Indonesia proposed that ASEAN immediately take steps to provide humanitarian assistance, including for women and children (Myanmar).

For information, data from the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP) states that as of July 31, 940 civilians were killed, and a total of 6.994 people were detained by the Myanmar military regime, with 5.444 of them still in detention.

Regarding the Myanmar Coup. VOI editorial team 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 clicking this link.