Asean mulling permanent special envoy on Myanmar, says Tok Mat

The Star

Asean foreign ministers have agreed to explore a proposal to appoint a permanent Special Envoy on Myanmar, according to Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.  Speaking at a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) on Sunday (May 25), Mohamad said none of his counterparts objected to the proposal, which involves appointing an Asean Special Envoy for a three-year term.  While reaffirming Asean’s policy of non-interference in member states’ internal affairs, Mohamad stressed that the ongoing crisis in Myanmar has led to transnational crimes and a growing refugee crisis affecting neighbouring countries, including Malaysia.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/4rsrm4cu  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00The meeting also agreed for ASEAN to undertake internal ASEAN consultations on the proposal

00:06for permanent ASEAN special envoy on Myanmar. Otherwise, we take turn. Every year we change

00:14special envoy, then we have to start all over again, all over again, and there's no end

00:18to it. So that we have agreed we want to explore, and majority does not agree. Nobody

00:24is it otherwise. And just matter of who is going to be the permanent special envoy, maybe

00:31on three-year term. We have already sent a very strong signal, message to Myanmar, that

00:37we would want Myanmar to comply with the five-point consensus first. Stop the hostilities, cease

00:44fire, sit down together with all parties, with the stakeholders, and then let this humanitarian

00:51aid reach the respective area. And then generally we talk about election. There's no point having

01:00election if it is partially participated by people of Myanmar. That will aggravate the situation

01:08further. So as far as ASEAN is concerned, we are very much insist upon this five-point consensus

01:16and we are ever-willing to address the five-point consensus to be fulfilled by this SAC. That

01:23is not a priority of ASEAN. What is the point if it is just a whitewash for to cover up in

01:30the eye of international community? So there's no point. But it's up to them. If they want

01:39ASEAN members, then I think they should be together and then stick to the five-point consensus and

01:44we are ever-willing to assist in whatever way that we can help Myanmar.

01:50Dathut Sri, Eileen from the Associated Press. Just on the issue of Myanmar, you talk about this proposal

01:58for the special, a permanent position for the special envoy to Myanmar. Is that already something

02:04that's confirmed or it's just a proposal stage at this point?

02:07Dathut Sri, Eileen from the Associated Press. That's a proposal stage and everybody for that

02:10matter have no objection to that. But the operational, who is going to be the permanent special envoy

02:17will be discussed at some level then we will bring it back to the leaders. But basically the idea

02:23of having a permanent envoy there, I think we received a very good response from all the respective

02:30states this morning.

02:31Okay. Also, thank you. Just to follow up on the issue of Myanmar where you said all you

02:38want for the SAC is to comply with the five-point consensus and to move towards dialogue.

02:46Malaysia has taken this stance of trying to engage all sides, right? SAC, NUG. But you

02:53yourself said that there's a trust deficit. So I'm just wondering, are you getting any signals

02:59at all from the SAC that it is willing to do that? Because in the last four years, nothing has,

03:06it just refused to comply. So is there any signal that Malaysia is getting that things might change?

03:14I'm not going to be able to do that. I've been able to do that. I think

03:16I'm not going to be able to do that. I think we try to convince them. Because

03:20Five Point Consensus is also they are the destinatories. And I think Five Point Consensus is

03:21acceptable to everybody. So actually Five Point Consensus is nothing fantastic. Because what we

03:27need to do is to have a ceasefire, an unhindered, a maternity aid, special envoy, everything is there.

03:33And partly they have already done it, but they don't want to say it. They want to comply.

03:40So I will be going to Menapi Dao again in June, not as a Malaysian foreign minister, but as

03:50chairman of ASEAN. I'm going to talk to them further. We have to explore. We have to be patient.

03:56Because the warring section has been against each other for decades. So it's not as simple

04:05as what we think. But I suppose with the recent calamity, the earthquake happened, I think

04:12everybody have come to their sense. I think that's a good opportunity. Like what happened

04:17in Aceh last time after this, what do you call it, tsunami. Everybody come to their sense,

04:22and they come and sit down, and they can start talking to each other. I hope that it will happen.

04:29Pandangan terhadap kritikan yang mengatakan bahawa pendirian ASEAN yang tidak mahu

04:36campur tangan telah mengahadkan keupayaan dalam menangani konflik dalaman yang berlaku di Myanmar.

04:41Mungkin boleh beri pandangan sikit?

04:43Tidak mahu campur tangan.

04:44Tidak mahu campur tangan.

04:45Tidak mahu campur tangan dalam hal ehwal negara-negara dalam negara ASEAN. Itu

04:49kita punya dasar ASEAN. Tidak mahu campur tangan. Tinggal lagi, apa yang berlaku dalam

04:56negara Myanmar sekarang ini, dia tidak lagi confined to Myanmar. Dia dah jadi transborder

05:03crime dengan dia punya money laundering, dengan dia punya job scam, macam-macam sekali lah.

05:10Selepas itu, people been displaced, million of people been displaced. Malaysia sendiri

05:16terpaksa menguruskan 200 lebih ribu orang daripada Rohingya. Ini dah jadi masalah

05:23dalam ASEAN. Kita bukannya nak mencampuri hal ehwal dalaman mereka, tetapi dia dah

05:28menjadi sebagai isu ASEAN. Jadi, itu sebabnya, sebagai negara dalam ASEAN, kita bersetuju

05:35untuk kita pastikan isu Myanmar ini ditangani sebaik mungkin bersama-sama

05:41sebagai melalui ASEAN mekanism.

05:45terima kasih.

05:47terima kasih.

05:49terima kasih.

05:53terima kasih.

05:55terima kasih.

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