Thai foreign minister hopes Myanmar polls 'start of transition' to peace

CEBU CITY, January 30 ------ Thailand’s top diplomat said that he hoped Myanmar’s recent election would be the “start of a transition” that could lead to sustainable peace in the civil war-torn country. Myanmar’s pro-military party declared victory on Monday in junta-run elections widely labeled by rights groups as a “sham.”

Critics say the poll was stacked with army allies to prolong its grip on power after the Feb. 1, 2021, coup that saw massively popular democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi detained and her National League for Democracy party dissolved.

Speaking on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) retreat in Cebu City, Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said he hoped the polls might be a precursor to sustainable peace. “It’s not a perfect election, but we hope that it will be the start of the transition,” Sihasak told reporters. “We have not made any pronouncements on the elections,” he said, adding that observers sent to Myanmar for the poll would remain in place for three more months.

Minutes later, Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro said “a good number” of the regional bloc’s members held similar views, which she called “pragmatic.” “As far as the Asean collective [is concerned], there is no endorsement at this time,” she told a press briefing that concluded two days of meetings in the second-largest city of the Philippines, this year’s Asean chairman. “It’s not an expression of support, but with a view that these elections might be something positive,” Lazaro said of members’ hopefulness.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers had huddled a day earlier in a two-hour meeting devoted to the ongoing conflict in Myanmar, which Sihasak said had a special relevance for neighboring Thailand. “For most of us, especially Thailand, the position is we hope they will continue after the election with dialogue, reconciliation and (the) peace process, so we will have a sustainable solution, a sustainable peace,” he said. The Asean’s efforts to defuse Myanmar’s ongoing civil war have centered around a five-point plan that Myanmar agreed to in 2021, but has borne little fruit.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said last month that Asean would avoid actions that might “confer premature legitimacy” to any party after Myanmar’s pro-military party claimed an overwhelming victory in the election’s first phase. Meanwhile, Tom Andrews, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on Myanmar, urged the global community to reject results he said the junta had orchestrated “specifically to ensure a landslide by its political proxy.” “International acceptance of this fraudulent exercise would set back the clock on genuine resolution to this crisis,” Andrews said.

Source: manilatimes.net