Are geopolitical issues hampering the efforts to resolve the Myanmar case at the UN?
It is deeply intertwined with geopolitical issues. There’s always been a split between the West and Russia-China camps among the Security Council’s permanent members. The US, UK, and France are on one side with Russia and China on the other.
The situation is similar to the support trend for Ukraine at the UN?
Just like Ukraine.
What is the impact of the 2021 coup on Rohingya?
The coup was a unilateral action by the military to annul the results of the general elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi in December 2020. This posed a new problem because having launched the coup, the Myanmar military violated the constitution, effectively rendering the constitution irrelevant. The coup later led to a deadly war between the democratic movement (the National Unity Government, the National Unity Consultative Council, ethnic armed groups, and so on) and the military, claiming victims on both sides. In fact, currently, the democratic movement has control over two-thirds of the country.
Aung San Suu Kyi was criticized for not defending Rohingya. What happened?
What has been regretted by the international community is Aung San Suu Kyi’s denial of crimes against Rohingya to protect the military for the sake of the continuity of the ongoing democratic process at the time.
Was it Suu Kyi’s pragmatic stance to make peace with the junta?
Now, we ask if that was her pragmatic consideration or actually her own conviction too that Rohingya did not have the right to be in Myanmar. It’s extremely regrettable. This symbol of independence and humanity became so tainted this way.
Why does ASEAN’s five-point consensus on Myanmar fail to stop the violence there?
The junta also agreed to the consensus. Now, resolving the Myanmar fiasco requires pressure on the junta to seek a political, not military, resolution. The military resolution won’t take them anywhere because both sides are equally strong. In fact, the democratic movement is even stronger.
Even though the military is superior in terms of weapons?
Correct. Even though the military has more weapons, and is more powerful, in reality, they’ve failed to quell the movement which is also backed by ethnic armed groups. Likewise, the movement has not been able to beat the junta after two years. And now the junta is proposing general elections. This is a sign that they are seeking a political resolution. Indonesia needs to explore this new development as to how to take advantage of this opportunity which coincidentally comes up during Indonesia’s tenure as ASEAN’s Chair.
Read the Full Interview in Tempo English Magazine
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