Myanmar complains over pariah treatment


YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) —Myanmar claimed on Monday that “discriminatory measures” are shutting it out of the ASEAN bloc after a summit last week saw the organization continue to blacklist the country’s post-coup leadership.
The 11-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations has shunned Myanmar from summits since the military in 2021 deposed the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and detained the democratic figurehead, triggering a civil war.
After five years of martial rule, the junta staged a tightly restricted election excluding Suu Kyi’s party that last month resulted in putsch-leading military chief Min Aung Hlaing taking over as civilian president.
At an ASEAN summit in the Philippines last week, the hosting country’s President Ferdinand Marcos complained there had not been “any progress in Myanmar.”
Myanmar’s foreign ministry, in a statement, claimed that on the contrary, “positive developments taking place in Myanmar have been well recognized by the majority of ASEAN member states.”
“However, it is observed that a few member states continue to maintain restrictions, discriminatory measures, and the exclusion of the Myanmar Government from equal representation.”
ASEAN is suffering from a fraying consensus over Myanmar, analysts say, with frustration growing over a lack of progress on the bloc’s peace plan to end the nation’s civil war.
Some countries, such as neighboring Thailand, congratulated Myanmar’s coup-leader-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing when he was sworn in, pledging to make efforts to stabilize their shared border.
Others have remained aloof about Min Aung Hlaing’s inauguration following an election widely criticized by democracy monitors for cracking down on dissent and not including opposition parties and voters in rebel-held territories.
At the summit in the Philippines, Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said Myanmar was not ready to reclaim a seat at the table because “atrocities towards their own citizens are still occurring.”
A traditional dish called zongzi is served during China’s Dragon Boat Festival, which falls in June. It is a rice…
Divina credited the firm’s achievements to its members, thanking them for their ‘hard work, dedication, teamwork, and…
‘Sec. Vince Dizon, please explain how this finding of your own team should not be flagged as a ghost project in Taguig.’