By Charles Santiago
Since demonstrations against the military coup in Myanmar started weeks ago, protestors have united across the country to express their rejection of the military regime. In Yangon, the commercial capital, they have congregated around Sule Pagoda, in the heart of the city, as well as outside the US and Chinese embassies, among others.
But on Tuesday morning, they gathered outside the Indonesian Embassy, in a leafy neighborhood just north of downtown Yangon. A sign placed outside the embassy compound made it clear why the protestors were there. It read: “We don’t need another election!! # Respect our votes”.
The protests were in response to an article published by Reuters on Monday that said that Indonesia was planning to push members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to agree on a response to the coup that would keep the junta to its promise of holding elections, and handing power to the winner. The report, which cited three sources familiar with the move, led to an immediate backlash, with Indonesia facing criticism for apparently siding with the Myanmar military.
A day later on Tuesday, Indonesia appeared to walk back its statement, with the foreign ministry reportedly telling Reuters that it was not seeking new elections in Myanmar. It was then reported that Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi would fly to Myanmar on Thursday, but then on Wednesday, the planned trip was canceled.
As is so often the case with the opaque regional grouping, it’s hard to tell exactly how ASEAN is planning to respond to the coup. Statements have been issued, including by Brunei Darussalam as the ASEAN Chair, as well as representatives of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, and some closed-door meetings have taken place, but more than three weeks after the coup, it remains to be seen exactly what ASEAN’s official response will be.
Myanmar’s people deserve one that goes beyond platitudes. ASEAN has leverage with Myanmar’s military and it must use it to ensure that the junta refrains from further violence, arbitrary arrests, Internet shutdowns and other wide ranging restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
It’s the right thing to do but it is also in the bloc’s best interests to do so, not only from a regional security perspective, but also for its own reputation. As dozens of regional NGOs, including APHR, have previously noted, failure to stand up and provide strong support for the Myanmar people risks further damaging its reputation as an effective regional body that can meaningfully contribute to a strong and viable community of nations in Southeast Asia.
ASEAN must also establish a response that secures long-term democratic and human rights gains in Myanmar and that means absolutely rejecting the junta’s calls for fresh elections. Since the February 1 coup, the military government has arrested more than 600 people, most of them from the NLD, while also adopting new and highly repressive laws to try and stifle the protest movement and criminalize any hint at criticism of the junta. They have also loaded a new Union Election Commission with figures pliant with their regime, stifled the Internet on a daily basis, and issued threats to the media.
It’s abundantly clear that any election held under the military junta in Myanmar cannot be considered even remotely close to being free or fair.
It would also ignore the calls made by the hundreds of thousands of Myanmar people who have taken to streets in recent weeks, including under threats to their lives, and demanded loud and clear that the result of November’s election should be respected. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the military government has still not provided any meaningful evidence that last year’s vote, which the NLD won resoundingly, was fraudulent (claims in the state-run newspaper by the new military-pliant UEC hardly provide that), while international electoral observers such as The Carter Center found that voters “were able to freely express their will” in the vote and choose their elected representatives.
One need to go back only a decade in Myanmar to witness what an election held by Myanmar’s military could look like. It was in 2010 and the conditions were so unfair that the election was boycotted by the NLD. Without the NLD competing and in a poll rife with accusations of voter fraud, the military-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party won a resounding victory. Although the quasi-civilian government that emerged from that vote initiated reforms away from decades of military rule, it was still not one that was representative of the people’s desires.
One also only needs to look among Myanmar’s neighbors to see how autocratic rulers can manipulate election processes to guarantee their victories. In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen was able to win all seats in the national assembly in 2018 after he used a trumped up case to dissolve the main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and jail – or send into exile – its leaders.
Myanmar’s military, with its atrocious human rights record and autocratic nature is trying to use similarly devious behavior and the facade of elections to remove the political opposition and strengthen its hold on power. Let’s be clear: they did not conduct a coup, imprison duly elected leaders of the country, and stifle freedoms in order to hand over power a year later in free and fair elections. ASEAN knows this and must not play into this game of theirs. Instead it must stand with the Myanmar people, who have made it abundantly clear, both in November’s elections and in the current protest movement sweeping the country, that they reject military rule, and demand democracy.
Charles Santiago is Chairperson of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), and a Malaysian Member of Parliament (MP).
