Asean should have a 'full-time' Myanmar special envoy with added powers, Malaysia's Saifuddin Abdullah says

Malaysia will propose an expansion of the powers granted to Asean's special envoy to Myanmar as the country's post-coup violence shows no signs of abating, foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah said on Saturday.

Among other things, the proposal may involve making the role - currently filled by Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn - a full-time position with a tenure of more than 12 months.

"We, the foreign ministers of Asean, must really put a lot of effort into the idea of strengthening the special envoy," Saifuddin told reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.

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The foreign minister told a panel discussion earlier on Saturday that his intention was to broach the proposal when the foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) next meet in India later this month.

Among the member states, Malaysia, alongside Singapore and Indonesia, has been considerably more vocal about their troubled neighbour's post-coup upheaval.

While Asean has drawn up a so-called "Five-Point Consensus" - which calls for an immediate cessation of violence, inclusive dialogue involving all parties and the delivery of humanitarian aid - little progress has been made.

As of February, at least 1,500 people were known to have been killed during protests held since the junta took control of the country and nearly 12,000 unlawfully detained during the same period, according to the United Nations human rights office.

Asean, Saifuddin said, could pile more pressure on the Myanmar military by engaging with other dialogue partners - "people that [the junta] might listen to". There were also ways to make the Five-Point Consensus work, such as listing down the stakeholders involved and setting deadlines.

Saifuddin said he hoped there would be some clarity on the bloc's strategy by the time a summit of its leaders is held in November. A lack of a plan - or "non-concrete" actions - by then would embolden the ruling junta led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the foreign minister said.

"If we don't have the answer to those hard questions by the time the summit meets ... then the junta will have a field day probably saying 'see, Asean is not able to do much'," he said. "That's exactly what we don't want."

During the panel discussion, Saifuddin described the situation in Myanmar as a "real test" for the region. "It is a complex crisis of multiple dimensions but most importantly, this is a real crisis. This is descending rapidly into some kind of civil war."

Asean had to look for new ways to address the situation and "go back to the drawing board and develop a more detailed roadmap," he said.

Saifuddin added that he had earlier proposed for the Asean special envoy and other foreign ministers to formally engage with Myanmar's shadow administration, the National Unity Government (NUG). The NUG along with the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) say junta rule is illegal and lay claim to legitimate executive power in Myanmar.

Saifuddin last month met with the NUG's Zing Mar Aung on the sidelines of the US-Asean summit in Washington. That immediate drew criticism from the junta, which said the meeting violated "international anti-terrorism agreements".

Also on the panel with Saifuddin was US Department of State Counsellor Derek Chollet. Chollet stressed that the US was constantly thinking of ways to pressure the regime to enter negotiations to put Myanmar back on the path of democracy.

Washington, he said, was looking at new measures, including fresh sanctions, to cut off the junta's resources and cripple its military capabilities.

Asked about the junta's recent decision to carry out death sentences on four people, including two prominent democracy activists, Saifuddin said Asean foreign ministers have discussed it informally.

Human rights groups and the United Nations have voiced strong concerns over the planned hangings, which would be Myanmar's first judicial executions in three decades if they are carried out.

The junta's critics say the four people were not granted due process, with the independent Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights group saying they faced "cold-blooded political assassination".

Hun Sen, prime minister of Cambodia and the current chair of Asean, on Friday urged Myanmar not to proceed with the executions. Saifuddin said that intervention was "very important".

"I think we should follow up on that statement and find ways [to] avoid the executions. It is really a sad thing if this were to be carried out," he said.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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