Southeast Asian defence ministers called on Wednesday for the fighting in Gaza to cease immediately and for the world to collaborate on setting up humanitarian aid corridors in Gaza, but they struggled on how to address the prolonged civil strife in Myanmar.
The Myanmar crisis was high on the agenda when defence chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. The 10-nation bloc includes Myanmar, but its Defence Minister was again barred from attending this week’s meetings due to the military government’s failure to comply with a five-point emergency plan drafted to ease the violence.
“We are saddened with a deteriorating situation in Myanmar,” Indonesia’s Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto said in an opening speech. “Indonesia encourages other ASEAN member states to support Myanmar to find a peaceful and durable solution to the current situation.”
ASEAN has been trying to enforce the plan it forged with Myanmar’s top general in 2021, which calls for an immediate end to the violence, the start of talks brokered by a special envoy among contending parties, and the delivery of aid to displaced people. But Myanmar’s military government has done little to enforce the plan.
The defence ministers on Thursday will be meeting with ASEAN’s eight dialog partners, with the territorial disputes over the South China Sea expected to be raised.
Subianto in his speech also touched on Israel’s war with Hamas. “Indonesia is deeply saddened by the deteriorating situation in Gaza, particularly the horrid humanitarian conditions,” he said, adding violence against civilians “must stop.”
“Conversely, efforts to achieve a cease-fire must continue and the safe passage of humanitarian aid must be wide and accelerated,” he said.
ASEAN has not made a formal statement about the Israel-Hamas war, which is not surprising given each member of the bloc sees the conflict differently.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei—the three ASEAN members with Muslim-majority populations where religion is significant in domestic politics—have long been strong supporters of the Palestinians’ struggles. None of them has diplomatic relations with Israel.
Malaysia’s Defense Minister Mohammad Hasan in his speech on Wednesday condemned the bombings of civilians, homes and hospitals in Gaza and “the consequential massacre of innocent lives, children, women and men.”