Do More, Malaysia
“the U.N. General Assembly’s decision to hold an all-stakeholders high-level conference in 2025 to propose a time-bound plan for a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis, presents Malaysia — and thus ASEAN — the opportunity to finally address this humanitarian disaster as part of a comprehensive solution to Myanmar’s crisis.”
With the newly appointed ASEAN Special Envoy traveling to Naypyidaw to meet with the Myanmar military junta, Malaysia appears to be following the bloc’s same old playbook at the start of its chairship. But as we know, past envoys’ interventions have led nowhere, offering no hope to end the junta’s terror campaign against the people. Despite the change in leadership, unless the right course is chosen, ASEAN will keep going round in circles—without positive outcomes for the Myanmar people. It’s time for Malaysia, as ASEAN’s chair, to move past failed diplomacy, stop engaging with the illegal junta, and finally move the bloc beyond the Five-Point Consensus (5PC).
ASEAN’s Special Envoy to Myanmar, Othman Hashim, visited Naypyidaw and met with junta personnel from 6–8 February 2025 but faced a cold reception, with the junta sidelining the trip. The junta previously used such meetings as part of its propaganda to project international legitimacy. Following this visit, on 8 February, the Special Envoy also met with the representatives of Myanmar people, including the National Unity Government (NUG), the Karen National Union, the Karenni National Progressive Party, the Chin National Front, and the New Mon State Party – Anti-Dictatorship in Bangkok, Thailand. This does not diverge from the old script—meeting the junta first while keeping engagements with Myanmar’s legitimate representatives informal and discreet.
To date, actions taken by ASEAN’s rotating chairship and its special envoys yielded no tangible effects to address the military junta-caused crisis and bring about any meaningful change for the Myanmar people. Four years is long enough to prove that ASEAN has been taking the wrong approach. But ASEAN’s obsession with the 5PC is chronic, driven by a lack of genuine political will to find a peaceful and durable solution. ASEAN continues to reference its stagnant 5PC—a framework which the military junta blatantly undermines and which the Myanmar people never support. The bloc fails to recognize the 5PC’s persistent failure to address the main root cause of the country’s multi-faceted crisis—the Myanmar military—or hold the military accountable for grave human rights violations and mass atrocity crimes.
On the positive side, Timor-Leste has been a beacon of moral leadership in Southeast Asia, unwavering in its commitment to supporting human rights and democracy in Myanmar. Even at the cost of its long-sought ASEAN accession, Timor-Leste remains resolute with Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão stating that the country “may reconsider joining ASEAN” if the bloc fails to take meaningful action on the Myanmar crisis. Timor-Leste’s firm rejection of the military junta and its illegal coup attempt even provoked retribution and retaliation from the junta, which ordered Timor-Leste’s Chargé d’Affaires to leave Myanmar by 1 September 2023. Taking a further principled step, Timor-Leste has welcomed the establishment of a liaison office for the NUG in 2024. Every ASEAN member state should adopt such a principled stance, rather than continuing with lip service and wishful thinking that the junta will simply stop its violence.
Malaysia asserted that “We told [the Myanmar military junta] the election is not a priority. The priority now is to cease fire.” While this comment is noted, it fails to denounce the junta’s sham election and instead grants the junta a chance to legitimize itself. It is also an overt assault on the Myanmar people and their struggle to dismantle military tyranny and demolish its illegal institutions to achieve democracy. What people seek is systemic change, not shuffling people around in the same political seats under military domination and calling it democracy. Centering the junta in the solution will not lead to a meaningful, durable and sustainable outcome.
The Malaysian Government can do much more this year. For one, it must uphold human rights and ensure the safety and protection of refugees from Myanmar including the Rohingya fleeing genocide in their homeland of Rakhine State. Myanmar refugees in Malaysia face heightened risks of detention, arrest, and deportation, as well as other human rights violations, including denial of access to healthcare and education. In particular, safety and legal protection must be immediately provided for the Rohingya refugees forced to make dangerous sea crossings at acute risks to their survival. These highly vulnerable people need real protection from governments, not peril.
Moreover, Malaysia should take lead in the UN-initiated international conference for sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis. As Khin Ohmar, Chairperson of Progressive Voice, suggested, “the U.N. General Assembly’s decision to hold an all-stakeholders high-level conference in 2025 to propose a time-bound plan for a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis, presents Malaysia — and thus ASEAN — the opportunity to finally address this humanitarian disaster as part of a comprehensive solution to Myanmar’s crisis.”
It’s time to accept reality: ASEAN’s current approach has only emboldened the junta to commit further war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the people and plunge the whole country into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. The Malaysian Government, as ASEAN Chair, must act at this critical juncture by standing firm with the people of Myanmar in their pursuit of an inclusive, just, and peaceful federal democratic future. In doing so, ASEAN must transform its policy and approach to center democracy and human rights. This begins with ASEAN’s wholly departing from the notion that the junta still has a role to play in Myanmar’s future. ASEAN must officially engage with the people’s legitimate representatives and Myanmar’s civil society in a transparent and accountable process. Lastly, Malaysia must ensure ASESAN does not pressure revolutionary forces and civil society into dialogue or negotiations with the Myanmar military, as such actions only encourage the junta to intensify atrocities and undermine the people’s ongoing efforts in building a people-led and people-centered solution to Myanmar’s future.
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[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.
Resources from the past week
Statements and Press Releases
Myanmar: Recklessly abrupt US aid stoppage poses existential threat to human rights
By Amnesty International
By Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Lawyers Council of Thailand Takes Case of Myanmar National Tortured to Death by Thai Soldiers
By Fortify Rights
By Justice For Myanmar
By Karenni National Progressive Party, Karen National Union, Chin National Front, New Mon State Party (Anti-Military Dictatorship), Karenni State Consultative Council, Pa-O National Federal Council, Mon State Federal Council, Ta’ang Political Consultative Committee and Women’s League of Burma
By By Karenni National Progressive Party, Karen National Union, Chin National Front, New Mon State Party (Anti-Military Dictatorship), Karenni State Consultative Council, Pa-O National Federal Council, Mon State Federal Council, Ta’ang Political Consultative Committee and Women’s League of Burma
New SAC-M Briefing Paper: Breaking Myanmar’s Military-Money Nexus by Sean Turnell
By Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Reports
Attacks on Health Care in Myanmar: 22 January-04 February 2025
By Insecurity Insight
By Karen Peace Support Network, Transnational Institute
Rising Death Toll Among Children, Women, and Civilians After the Coup – Issue 163
By Myanmar Peace Monitor and Burma News International
Aerial Attacks Carried out by the Military Council (September-December 2024)
By Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica
The Military, Money, and Myanmar: Breaking the Nexus
By Sean Turnell, Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”
