ASEAN Misses Another Opportunity for Meaningful Action on Myanmar

With its chairman’s meaningless remarks and hollow statements, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed Myanmar’s people yet again at its latest summit in Kuala Lumpur this week.

The chairman’s statement on the summit offered no new approaches to dealing with the crisis in the country, which has been beleaguered by a military dictatorship since 2021. Rather, it just dusted off the bloc’s toothless Five-Point Consensus (5PC) as a road map for addressing Myanmar’s ills.

To Myanmar people, the regional grouping’s ongoing obsession with the failed peace plan is beyond frustrating. They simply can’t help wondering why ASEAN leaders remain so delusional when it comes to this “consensus”, which has delivered nothing for Myanmar.