BANGKOK, Feb 1 (Bernama) — Two years on since the Myanmar military coup, it is high time for the international community to step-up support for Myanmar’s democratic movement, said the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M).
SAC-M said the support of the international community in this matter is the only way forward, as the military junta has failed to impose its political agenda on Myanmar.
“As the coup, and the terrible toll it is taking on the people of Myanmar, enters its third year, SAC-M calls on the international community to close in on accountability by establishing an ad hoc tribunal for Myanmar, and to finally step up and recognise Myanmar’s National Unity Government,” it said in a statement.
Today (Feb 1), marks exactly two years since Myanmar’s military led by army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing took power in a coup, abruptly halting the country’s fragile transition towards democracy.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s government was deposed in the military coup, and since then, nearly 3,000 were reported to have been killed, 7,000 detained and more than 1.5 million displaced.
A founding member of SAC-M Chris Sidoti said the world must support the democratic movement in Myanmar.
“Over the last two years the world has failed the people of Myanmar where many have suffered. The people need our support. The small steps taken so far are far too little… The international community has a challenge to do far more, far swifter in 2023,” he said at a press conference that marked the two-year anniversary of Myanmar’s military coup.
Sidoti commented on the recent developments in the UN and international system, including the adoption of the Security Council’s first resolution on Myanmar, the continued rejection of the military junta by the General Assembly, and the ongoing investigations at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court in relation to the Rohingya genocide.
However, he said these steps have all been inadequate.
“We, the international system, are challenged, as we go into the third year of this coup. We are challenged to respond far more adequately, far more effectively and far more actively than we have done in the past,” he said.
Meanwhile, another SAC-M founding member, Marzuki Darusman said Indonesia, as the chair of ASEAN this year will need to push the bloc to finally come to terms with the reality that the situation in Myanmar is a political conflict between the junta and the democracy movement.
“As ASEAN Chair for one very short year, Indonesia should try to lay down the groundwork for a realistic, sound and durable political solution. It is imperative that Indonesia acknowledges the reality of the NUG and works with it, as a party to the conflict, to find a solution,” he said.
Yanghee Lee, a SAC-M founding member said the international community must recognise that whatever the military in Myanmar is doing right now has no constitutional basis.
All three members of SAC-M dismissed the junta’s stated plan to hold elections in 2023 as yet another attempt to gain power that fails to comply even with the military’s own constitution.
The members concurred that a non-violent solution to the conflict must be found, but that the nature of that solution is not yet clear, and with Min Aung Hlaing leading the military, appears unlikely.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency
