Southeast Asian MPs to ASEAN: Denounce Myanmar Junta Sham Elections and Put Rohingya Humanitarian Crises at the top of Summit Agenda

KUALA LUMPUR, 23 October 2025—As leaders gather in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the 47th ASEAN Summit, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) urges Member States to confront the worsening human rights and political crisis in Myanmar, address the Rohingya humanitarian emergency and reject the junta’s planned sham elections by placing these urgent issues at the top of the Summit agenda.

Civilians in Myanmar face relentless violence, mass displacement and collapsing services with over 22 million needing aid and 3.5 million displaced by ongoing airstrikes and destruction. At the same time, more than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar endure dwindling aid, food shortages and fading prospects for safe return.

Mercy Chriesty Barends, APHR Chairperson and Member of the House of Representatives of Indonesia emphasized that, “ASEAN can no longer sideline Myanmar and the Rohingya crisis to the margins of diplomacy. These are immediate humanitarian and security crises that demand urgent and decisive leadership.”

Moreover, ASEAN must draw the line by refusing to recognize the junta’s attempt to legitimize its authoritarian rule through repression, censorship and systemic human rights violations, Rangsiman Rome, APHR Board Member and Member of the Parliament of Thailand stressed. “ASEAN must reject this sham election which will only deepen the oppression of the Myanmar people, entrench military impunity and erase any remaining prospects for a genuine democratic transition,” he added.

ASEAN Heads of State must treat the Myanmar conflict and the Rohingya humanitarian emergency as a regional crisis requiring a coordinated response; promote an inclusive, people-centred federal democracy by supporting ‘federalism from below’, resourcing locally-driven initiatives, and bringing the NUG, ethnic actors, women leaders and civil society into meaningful political dialogue.

Urgently advance humanitarian response and protection by securing neutral, trackable delivery of aid through local networks and cross-border channels, scaling support for Cox’s Bazar and host communities and expanding regional refugee protection and resettlement pathways.

Ensure justice, accountability and rights-based governance by backing independent investigations, transitional justice mechanisms and measures to dismantle military support for the junta and halt airstrikes and end atrocities on the Myanmar people.

Finally, ASEAN must challenge the junta’s push for legitimacy; reject sham electoral processes, consider suspension of the regime from the regional bloc until a genuine, inclusive transition is possible.

“This is also a call for all Southeast Asian lawmakers and democratic allies elsewhere to champion a people-centred, rights-based approach in all regional and international fora pertaining to the Myanmar crisis and the humanitarian catastrophe confronting Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh,” reiterated Charles Santiago, APHR Co-Chairperson and former Member of Parliament of Malaysia

APHR underlines that legitimacy cannot be given to those who perpetuate suffering. ASEAN as a regional representation should stand with victims, not enable perpetrators.

ASEAN was founded to secure peace, stability and prosperity. Those aims are hollow if entire populations are denied safety, justice and representation.

At the Summit this coming 26th to 28th of October, leaders have a choice. To act with urgency and moral clarity, or allow suffering to become the new normal.

“Finally, as Southeast Asian lawmakers representing the hopes and aspirations of our constituents for peace and democracy, we urge our leaders to choose people over politics, protection over cloaked statements and accountability over impunity,” concluded Antonio Tinio, APHR Member and Member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines.