SAC-M calls on ASEAN to stop mincing words and enforce the Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar

Mizzima

The Special Advisory Council – Myanmar (SAC-M) has called on the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to get serious over the Myanmar crisis.

This statement, issued 29 July, is issued by Dato’ Sri Saifuddin Abdullah, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia and current member of the House of Representatives of Malaysia; Khun Kasit Piromya, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand; and three former UN experts on Myanmar who are founding members of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M)

ASEAN has reaffirmed its “united position” on its Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar (5PC) after a humiliating fortnight. Now, five long years after its adoption, ASEAN must finally require the Myanmar military junta’s full compliance.

At the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Manila last week, ASEAN Foreign Ministers discussed “possible elements for assessing progress in Myanmar, in line with the 5PC” and to inform “further steps” that the bloc should take. Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar, Ma. Theresa Lazaro, added that ASEAN would develop formal benchmarks ahead of its November Leaders’ Summit to assess the military junta’s progress in implementing the agreement. The Foreign Ministers failed to propose a single action to implement their commitments.