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BANGKOK: Indonesia is holding intensive talks with both the Myanmar military and representatives of the ousted elected government in a bid to end the crisis by a February 1 military coup, the Foreign Minister said on Wednesday (February 24). Foreign Indonesia.
Indonesia has taken the lead within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in efforts to resolve the Myanmar turmoil. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met Myanmar’s military-appointed Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin for a talk in the Thai capital on Wednesday.
LEE: Top diplomat of the Myanmar board in talks with Thailand and Indonesia
Myanmar’s military seized power after alleging fraud in the November 8 elections swept by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), detaining her and much of the party’s leaders.
Opponents of the coup have organized days of demonstrations in towns and cities in Myanmar and three protesters and a policeman have been killed in the violence.
Indonesia’s effort to resolve the crisis has raised suspicions among Myanmar democracy activists who fear that dealing with the junta will give it legitimacy and its attempt to scrap the November elections.
They insist that the election result must be respected.
Retno, speaking to reporters in Bangkok, said that the welfare of the Myanmar people was the number one priority.
“We ask everyone to use restraint and not resort to violence … to avoid casualties and bloodshed,” Retno said after his talks with the Myanmar minister and his Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai.
Retno said he had “intensive” communications with both parties, including the ousted legislators from parliament, known as Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. Members of the group of legislators, the Representative Committee of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), were not immediately available for comment.
READ: The wishes of the people of Myanmar must be respected: Indonesian Foreign Minister
A Reuters report this week cited sources as saying Indonesia was proposing that ASEAN members send monitors to ensure the generals keep their promise of new fair elections. That added to suspicions among some pro-democracy activists that Indonesia’s intervention would undermine their demand that last year’s elections hold.
The army has not given a deadline for the new elections it promised, although it imposed a state of emergency for one year when it took power.
Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the Thai embassy in the main city of Yangon with signs reading: “Respect our vote” and “We vote for the NLD.”
“Our Foreign Minister is Aung San Suu Kyi,” the protesters chanted, referring to the position she held in the government she headed after winning the 2015 elections in a landslide.
Retno did not mention the issue of the elections, but said Indonesia stressed “the importance of an inclusive democratic transition process.”
“We need an enabling condition … in the form of dialogue, reconciliation, building trust,” he said. “Indonesia will stand with the people of Myanmar.”
“OFFER SUPPORT”
Retno was expected to fly to Myanmar on Wednesday, but the plan was abandoned, his ministry said.
READ: ‘Not the right time’ for Foreign Minister to visit Myanmar, Indonesia says
Later, Thailand announced that Wunna Maung Lwin, who made the first overseas trip of a member of Myanmar’s new military government, had arrived in Thailand.
A Thai source said the Myanmar minister was also scheduled to meet with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Prayut, a former army chief who took power in a coup in 2014, refused to confirm that he met with the Myanmar minister.
“Some things are not official,” he told reporters.
“We offer support as an ASEAN country that has to cooperate and offer good wishes so that everything goes well.”
Earlier, the Myanmar-based activist group Future Nation Alliance said in a statement that a visit to Myanmar by Retno would be “equivalent to recognizing the military junta.”
Instead, the group required foreign officials to meet with Htin Lin Aung, a CRPH member who was the “sole official responsible for foreign relations.”
Protesters, some leading a procession of elephants, marched in Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, in support of the ousted MPs on Wednesday.
Myanmar’s security forces have shown more restraint compared to previous repressions against people who lobbied for democracy during nearly half a century of direct military rule.
The military chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, said this week that the authorities were following a democratic path in dealing with the protests and that the police were using minimal force, such as rubber bullets, state media reported.
The rich nations of the Group of Seven (G7) on Tuesday condemned the intimidation and oppression of those who oppose the coup.
The United States, Britain and others have imposed limited sanctions, targeting board members and military companies.
China has traditionally taken a softer line on Myanmar, as have its neighbors in ASEAN.
