'The Myanmar issue is dragging the entire group down,' writes the columnist.
JAKARTA : Patience has its limits, even for Asean, famous or notorious, some argue, for its tardiness in taking action.
More than 20 months later, the military government has not abided by any of the five points that should be obvious to everyone that, by now, the generals in charge in Naypyidaw have no intention of implementing the agreement. They probably never have in the first place, and they fooled all the other Asean leaders present at that crucial meeting.
This however turned out to be an illusion. Today, the consensus looks like a dead document. Asean or rather Indonesia as chair should come up with an alternative plan in its place. Asean should be prepared to suspend Myanmar’s membership if the mechanism for expelling members is not provided for in the association’s bylaws. For much of the past year, Asean policy has been to exclude Myanmar’s political representations from all Asean meetings, including for example, the summits and the foreign ministers’ meetings. Not much good did it do if the intention was to pressure the Myanmar junta.
Let’s call a spade a spade. Asean does not need the Myanmar problem, which is dragging down everybody else in the region. It is not abandoning the Myanmar people, but after nearly two years clearly restoring peace in the country is simply too big a job for Asean. Myanmar will be welcome to join the group once peace is restored and a credible government is put in place.
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