Malaysia will continue to engage with all stakeholders in Myanmar, including the National Unity Government (NUG) and the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), said Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.
This is in an effort to resolve the political stalemate in the country as it is also in line with the Asean Five-Point Consensus (5PC), he said.
Saifuddin (above) said, under the current situation, there is a need to engage with all stakeholders to show support and solidarity.
“We are not choosing sides, we have no business choosing sides. We are not stopping Asean to engage with Naypyidaw, no problem engaging.
“Engage all stakeholders and that is what Malaysia is doing,” he told a news conference at his office at the Foreign Ministry yesterday.
The NUG is Myanmar’s government in exile and represents the government that was overthrown in a military coup on Feb 1, 2021.
The NUCC is a political coalition that seeks to unite Myanmar’s anti-regime forces.
The 5PCs on Myanmar adopted by Asean leaders at the Asean Leaders Meeting in Jakarta on April 24, last year were:
To end violence
To hold constructive discussions with stakeholders
For Asean to provide humanitarian aid to Myanmar
To appoint a special Asean ambassador to carry out negotiations
For the special envoy to be allowed to visit the country
Saifuddin said he will also reiterate Malaysia’s proposal for Asean to have informal engagements with NUG and NUCC during an Asean foreign ministers meeting on May 11.
That meeting is to be held ahead of the Asean-US Summit in Washington on May 12 and 13.
He said he will also propose for Asean to find a way to empower the Asean Special Envoy to Myanmar and how the 5PC could be best implemented.
“They are trying their best, (but) Myanmar has many constraints and conditions, we must find a way. There must be a way for us to help the special envoys to carry out their duties.”
‘Myanmar junta not cooperative’
Asked whether the proposal of Asean engaging with NUG and NUCC will further push the country’s junta to isolate itself, he said the junta has been isolating itself for the past year since the 5PC was adopted.
“They don’t seem very cooperative for the past year. Almost no progress despite both special envoys trying their level best to work overtime to get at least some of the consensus to be implemented,” he added.
The envoys were former special envoy, Brunei’s Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof and current special envoy, Cambodian foreign minister Prak Sokhonn.
Saifuddin said despite one of the 5PC clearly calling for the end of violence, statistics showed otherwise.
He said 10,786 armed clashes and attacks on civilians were reported from Feb 1, 2021 to April 15, 2021.
In the same period, some 2,146 people were killed while 13,282, including parliamentarians, journalists, and civilians were detained, he said.
On another proposal by Malaysia to double humanitarian aid to Myanmar, he said it should include the involvement of the Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) and international organisations guided by the United Nations (UN).
He said this was because the international organisations have the experience in rendering humanitarian assistance in war-torn and conflict areas, while the AHA centre’s experience is more to rendering humanitarian assistance during disasters like floods and earthquakes.
The minister said the involvement of the AHA Centre and international organisations guided by the United Nations will ensure humanitarian assistance gets distributed efficiently to the targetted groups.
“In addition, we want Asean countries to have ‘ownership’ of this humanitarian assistance so they can voluntarily bargain with their respective NGOs to help,” he said.
Mercy Malaysia, said Saifuddin, is the only foreign non-governmental organisation (NGO) that can still operate in Myanmar, and therefore Malaysia will propose that it be recognised as one of the NGOs from Asean.
- Bernama
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