Asean FMs to meet this week to select four candidates

BANGKOK - The ruling Myanmar military government has selected Virasakdi Futrakul, a former vice Thai foreign minister, as the Asean envoy to the country but the plan could not proceed due to “various reasons”, said ruling military leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.He disclosed the selection in a televised address this morning, six months after the army seized power from a civilian government after disputed elections won by the National League for Democracy Party.

He branded NLD “extremists” indulging in acts of terrorism. The election of Nov 2020 won by NLD was officially nullified by the military last week.

“Myanmar is ready to work on Asean cooperation within the Asean framework including the dialogue with the Asean Special Envoy in Myanmar,” Min Aung Hlaing said.

“But for various reasons, new proposals were received and we could not keep moving onwards,” he said.

Initially, Thailand and Indonesia put forward their respective candidates as the Asean envoy who would be tasked with coordinating humanitarian aid to Myanmar as well as to initiate dialogues among the stakeholders to bring peace and stability back to Myanmar. Malaysia later came in with a third candidate.

The Thai Asean envoy candidate Virasakdi is a former Thai ambassador to Myanmar.  Thailand shares a 2,400-km borders with Myanmar.

Other candidates were former Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda and veteran Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail. Lately, Brunei second minister for foreign affairs of Brunei, Mr Erywan Yusof also emerged as another candidate.

The UN and the US have both urged Asean to expedite appointment of the special envoy in recent weeks.

Asean has come under criticism of the delay in its engagement with the Myanmar military. The bloc foreign ministers are due to meet this week and Myanmar will be on top of their agenda along with the Covid-19 pandemic which has escalated throughout South East Asia.

As Asean current Chairmanship, Brunei’s Erywan Yusof, said last Friday night he hoped a final decision would be made on Monday. Brunei chairs Asean this year, Reuters news agency reported.

"Without the envoy leading the way, it is very difficult" to address the situation in Myanmar, he was quoted as saying.

Asean has been deeply divided on the envoy, and discussed appointing more than one to break the deadlock.

Four regional diplomatic sources said Mr Erywan was favoured to become envoy and be assisted by "advisers". But a meeting of senior Asean officials last Thursday failed to reach agreement, Reuters quoted them as saying.

In his TV address, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing spent most of his time attacking NLD and the Civil Disobedient Movement (CDM) which he also accused of engaging in “social bullying” for public support; and on the battle against Covid-19 pandemic.

Myanmar has been racked by a deadly crackdown on protests, economic collapse and a refugee exodus since the military takeover. 

Since the takeover, military authorities have faced protests, strikes that have paralysed public and private sectors, and a resurgence of armed conflicts in the borderlands. The military authorities have branded their opponents terrorists.

A surge in coronavirus infections has overwhelmed the country's health system, worsening the humanitarian crisis in the past month.

He said 12 million masks are being distributed monthly and 1,278 government patient treatment centers are able to accommodate 39,000 patients while 1,453 private treatment centers can deal with 71,500 patients. 1.8 million people had been vaccinated twice or 6.8 per cent of the total population.

The ruling military leader said three of the four million vaccines acquired so far had come from China while 2 million more is ordered from Russia. Unspecified numbers are being negotiated with India.

Min Aung Hlaing repeated the military’s claim that the Nov 2020 elections were plagued by frauds affecting some 11.3 million votes and NLD tried to destroy the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s term for military.

He pledged to that an election would be held in 2023 to achieve “disciplined democracy”.

“At present, the whole country is stable except for some terrorist attacks,” Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said in his speech.