Thread by @WholePicture_

Here a Thread about #MyanmarProtests #Burma and the @ASEAN: The Burmese military fired again at protesters. It ignores calls to the ASEAN

#Asia #Singapore #Dictatorship
#ASEANRespectOurVotes #PoliceBrutality #PoliceReform #PoliceBrutalityinMyanmar
nzz.ch/international/…

Burma's membership in the Asean group has long been controversial. After opening ten years ago, the criticism disappeared.

The desperation of the protesters over the inaction of the neighbors increases

It was only individual member states - namely Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Asean chairman Brunei - that sharply condemned the actions of the military and police and demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the other political prisoners.

The former head of government is not even mentioned by name in most of the statements; nor is the seizure of power by the military referred to as a coup.

Membership in Burma is becoming a problem for Asean
Burma, which is officially called Myanmar, was admitted to the Asean group in 1997 as the tenth country after Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

The decision was controversial at the time, because the Asean increasingly sees itself as a community of values. Authoritarian conditions prevailed in Burma even then.

But after the country opened up and democratized in 2011, the Asean decision looked in retrospect like a wise early move.

Since the massacres of the Rohingya - and especially since the coup on February 1st - the situation is now very different again. The Asean governments are now sitting at the table with generals who have committed mass murders.

Until now there have been rebel wars in the rural peripheral regions, now a guerrilla war is raging in the urban centers. To secure their power, the army and police in Burma are practicing a real reign of terror.

Burma has once again become the greatest stress test for the Asean states. This was briefly the case as early as 2007 during the saffron revolution.

A year later, when the «Nargis» hurricane devastated southern Burma, the group of countries proved to be useful on a humanitarian level.

After the use of force by the military, things are now getting more and more delicate for the Asean. Official recognition of the new rulers is still pending.

Such a step is met with opposition, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, where authoritarian governments are in power, are less scrupulous about this.

The Asean is split and should remain so.

Mainly companies from Singapore and Thailand - and also from Japan - have invested a lot in Burma. Without demarcation from the regime, such companies expose themselves to the accusation that they do business with the system of oppression.