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ASEAN Must Protect, Not Neglect Human Rights in Burma

May 23, 2025/in Briefing Papers, ND-Burma's Reports

Ahead of the 46th ASEAN Summit to be held from 26-27 May 2025, members of the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma (ND-Burma) are concerned about the ongoing failure of regional leaders to hold the military junta accountable for its widespread and systematic crimes against civilians. The upcoming gathering of ASEAN officials and dialogue […]

Open letter: Malaysia must lead ASEAN with principle, not hypocrisy, to address the Myanmar crisis

May 22, 2025/in Member statements, Press Releases and Statements

To:H.E. Datuk Seri Anwar IbrahimPrime Minister of MalaysiaChair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 2025 CC:H.E. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Prime Minister of Brunei DarussalamH.E. Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of CambodiaH.E. Prabowo Subianto, President of the Republic of IndonesiaH.E. Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic RepublicH.E. […]

ASEAN Must Protect, Not Neglect Human Rights in Burma

May 23, 2025/in Briefing Papers, ND-Burma's Reports

Open letter: Malaysia must lead ASEAN with principle, not hypocrisy, to address the Myanmar crisis

May 22, 2025/in Member statements, Press Releases and Statements

To:
H.E. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Prime Minister of Malaysia
Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 2025

CC:
H.E. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam
H.E. Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia
H.E. Prabowo Subianto, President of the Republic of Indonesia
H.E. Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
H.E. Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., President of the Republic of the Philippines
H.E. Lawrence Wong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore
H.E. Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
H.E. Phạm Minh Chính, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

21 May 2025

Open letter: Malaysia must lead ASEAN with principle, not hypocrisy, to address the Myanmar crisis

Your Excellency,

We—the undersigned 285 Myanmar, regional, and international civil society organizations—write to you at the most critical juncture for Myanmar and for the credibility and efficacy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the region. As Malaysia chairs ASEAN and is set to host the 46th Summit later this month, we urgently call for your decisive leadership to unify and steer ASEAN to adopt a stronger, more principled stance and take concerted efforts to address the intensifying multifaceted crisis in Myanmar.

This should begin with ASEAN cutting all ties with the Myanmar military junta and shifting official engagement to Myanmar’s legitimate stakeholders: the National Unity Government (NUG) and Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs).

We are compelled to express our condemnation of your recent meeting with Min Aung Hlaing, the architect of the ongoing terror campaign, and main perpetrator of genocide against the Rohingya and war crimes and crimes against humanity against the people of Myanmar. This meeting, far from being a diplomatic necessity, is a grave misstep that further harms the people. It offers the junta a dangerous façade of false legitimacy at a time when it is desperately seeking to escape international isolation and accountability. Such engagement does not serve the interests of peace or justice for the Myanmar people, for which ASEAN allegedly strives. Instead, it once again emboldens an illegitimate military junta responsible for the most heinous crimes in Southeast Asia’s recent history, and signals to the world that ASEAN is willing to compromise its credibility for the sake of hollow dialogue.

This is not an isolated error, but a symptom of ASEAN’s broader failure since the military’s illegal coup attempt in 2021. We note that this meeting—and in fact, each and every previous meeting—with junta representatives, has consistently empowered the military to continue its brutal attacks and airstrikes against civilians. For over four years, acting alone and within ASEAN, the region’s leaders have clung to an approach that prioritizes engagement with the perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes over the rule of law, justice and accountability, and solidarity with victims and survivors. The perfunctory Five-Point Consensus, repeatedly invoked but never effectively nor meaningfully implemented, has become a shield for the military to continue its campaign of terror with total impunity. The ongoing presence of junta representatives at ASEAN meetings at any level continues to undermine the bloc’s credibility and betrays its founding commitment to democracy, peace, security, and respect for human rights.

Since its illegal coup attempt in February 2021, the Myanmar military junta has perpetrated a multitude of grave human rights violations and mass atrocity crimes, including massacres, torching and pillaging entire towns, and lethal airstrikes against civilians and places where they take refuge. Since February 2021, the military has conducted more than 4,000 airstrikes, exponentially escalating such attacks over the past two years. The military’s widespread and systematic violence has so far internally displaced more than 3.5 million people—likely a gross underestimation of the true magnitude of displacement. Since your meeting with Min Aung Hlaing on 17 April, the junta has conducted at least 171 airstrikes, the vast majority on civilian areas with no intention other than to inflict harm and terrorize the people. The latest massacre in Depayin Township, Sagaing Region, on 12 May 2025, in which a junta airstrike on a school killed at least 22 children and two teachers, is yet another horrific testament to the military’s utter contempt for human life and international law.

In light of these grave realities, we urgently call on Your Excellency to exercise the courageous and principled leadership that this moment demands. Malaysia must immediately and unequivocally sever all ties with the junta, and use its position as ASEAN Chair to unify and lead the bloc with the same courageous and decisive action, in support of Myanmar people’s revolution to dismantle military tyranny and establish federal democracy. We expect that Malaysia recognizes the gravity of this call and will ensure no junta representatives are permitted to participate in any ASEAN meetings at any level—including the upcoming Summit.

ASEAN, under Malaysia’s leadership, must recognize and engage with the legitimate representatives of the Myanmar people, the NUG and EROs, as well as Myanmar civil society. These are the actors who have demonstrated genuine commitment to finding a long-term sustainable solution in the best interests and desires of Myanmar’s people: democracy, federalism, and human rights. ASEAN’s engagement must be formal, meaningful, and conducted at the highest levels—not relegated to unofficial channels in the name of quiet diplomacy or tokenistic side meetings. Engagement must be open and transparent to gain the confidence of the Myanmar people. Only then can the bloc move beyond the failed Five-Point Consensus and support a Myanmar-owned and -led solution, as it so often claims to do. ASEAN must stop clinging to empty rhetoric and prove its pledges with concrete, meaningful actions to stop the junta’s violence—most urgently the airstrikes. Anything less will only prolong ASEAN’s complicity in the cycle of military violence and impunity which has defined Myanmar over the past seven decades.

Furthermore, the humanitarian catastrophe intensifying in central Myanmar and its ethnic borderlands and regions demands an urgent and principled response, particularly following the devastating earthquake on 28 March 2025. The current approach—channeling aid through the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre)—has failed to deliver aid meaningfully and effectively, and has further allowed the junta to weaponize aid for its own advantage. We urge Malaysia to lead ASEAN in steering Myanmar’s neighbors to collaborate with the NUG and EROs and directly support existing local civil society, networks, and community-based responders to do their important work without interference or bureaucratic obstacles.

Malaysia’s Madani values of sustainability, respect, trust, and compassion provide a strong foundation for Your Excellency to lead ASEAN to adopt a bold, inclusive, and principled approach with decisive and pragmatic action to help resolve the Myanmar crisis. Your leadership as ASEAN Chair can restore ASEAN’s regional relevance by responding to the threats posed by the Myanmar military and the multifaceted crisis it has caused and by demonstrating genuine commitment to democracy, peace, justice, human security, and development in the region.

Your Excellency, history will judge this most critical moment for the region by the choices you and your fellow ASEAN leaders make. We urge you to reject the path of hypocrisy and complicity, and instead chart a course grounded in humanity, solidarity, and respect for the rights and dignity of the Myanmar people.

We stand ready to support your efforts and urge you to seize this critical opportunity to lead ASEAN to support a Myanmar people-owned and -led political transformation process toward a just and lasting resolution in Myanmar.

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