Myanmar armed forces chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (right) meeting with Brunei s Second Minister of Foreign Affairs Erywan Yusof (third from the left) and Asean Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi (second from the left) in Naypyidaw, Myanmar on June 4, 2021. - AFP
JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/ANN): President Joko Jokowi Widodo, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have initiated an Asean-led diplomatic initiative to stop the ruthless Myanmar junta from killing innocent people who have refused to accept a government that was born of a coup against a democratic regime.
But Indonesia now faces the bitter fact that resistance to concerted efforts to stop gross human rights violations in Myanmar comes not only come from the military junta but also from within Asean itself.
COMMENT | Here s the SOP for hybrid Parliament
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COMMENT | June 16 this year was a momentous day for Malaysia, when the king and state rulers issued their royal decrees to convene Parliament and state assemblies as soon as possible, among others.
The king wanted Parliament to debate the 2021 emergency ordinances he proclaimed as the constitution stipulated, and the National Recovery Plan issued by the prime minister the day before.
This was an unprecedented collective move by the royalties for several reasons; notably, it was against the wishes of the government, and it seems the king wants to end his emergency proclamation earlier but not beyond the stipulated date.
CHANGING gear and shifting from emergency planning to mainstream policymaking can be a tricky affair.
While under pressure by an outbreak of a pandemic, you are forced to think in long and bold terms. Once the calamity subsidies or just keeps hitting as hard as before but at the same time it somehow becomes internalised as part of the “new normal”, policymakers tend to revert to the old standard working modalities.
The ambition of a “building forward better” might still be officially there but then in the reality it struggles to gain traction and keep momentum.
I am afraid this might happen in Asean and for this reason I am wondering if within bloc there is still a “collective” sense of urgency to forge ahead together what was put in the front when the pandemic struck.
For Southeast Asian countries, the meaning of regional connectivity and integration goes beyond their vision of development and economic progress. Interconnectedness also applies when discussing disasters and environmental degradation.
TO restore the credibility of Asean, which was damaged by Brunei’s Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof and Asean Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi’s visit to Myanmar on behalf of the regional bloc last week, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo should waste no time in discussing the matter with Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the chair of Asean for this year.