TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Indonesia can be an honest peace broker in Myanmar crisis
In its role as an independent mediator Indonesia should detach itself from any ASEAN attributes and instead deal with the suspended Myanmar not as the chair of ASEAN but as a Southeast Asian neighbor.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
The United Nations Security Council meets in preparation for a vote on a draft resolution calling for an immediate end to violence in Myanmar and the release of political prisoners, at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, on Dec. 22, 2022. (AFP/Ed Jones)
M
iddle power Indonesia may now have earned the trust of the international community as a “neutral” peace mediator for its successful management of the Group of 20, in which leaders unanimously condemned Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine without appearing to take sides in the conflict.
However, the real test for the Southeast Asian giant’s ability to handle a conflict lies ahead in its very own backyard as Indonesia chairs ASEAN this year.
All eyes are now on Indonesia to take real actions to solve the Myanmar crisis during its presidency of the bloc after this year’s chair Cambodia hardly made any meaningful progress on the cause.
Indonesia needs to replicate its G20 success during its ASEAN chairmanship as the bloc is expected to be divided among its members on how to handle the Myanmar crisis.
There is compelling evidence that the way the regional bloc manages the situation in Myanmar is going nowhere, allowing the humanitarian crisis to drag on, with now over 3,000 civilians having been killed, and prompting the United Nations to label it a crime against humanity.
Thus, as the chair of ASEAN Indonesia should take a more-proactive policy by becoming an honest and independent broker of peace in the Myanmar crisis, an option overlooked by Brunei in 2021 and Cambodia in 2022.
The Myanmar junta launched a coup on Feb. 1, 2021 after a military-supported party lost to the National League for Democracy (NLD) in November 2020 elections, alleging massive vote rigging.
