VIENTIANE: Myanmar’s internal issues have affected its neighbouring countries and Malaysia wants the matter to be jointly addressed by all Asean countries via the Five-Point consensus, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
The Foreign Minister said that transnational crime in Myanmar has become a serious issue affecting countries in South-East Asia.
“Myanmar has become the number one country in processing drugs, job scams, online gambling and among others, causing countries in South-East Asia to face problems that arose from their internal issues.
“We want the Myanmar issue to be addressed collectively with Asean member countries via the Five-Point consensus,” said Mohamad to reporters after attending the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) held at the National Convention Centre (NCC) in the capital of Laos on Tuesday (Oct 8).
Mohamad said Asean has mandated three countries – Indonesia, Laos and Malaysia – to negotiate with Myanmar on adopting the Five-Point consensus.
“We are urging Myanmar to quickly accept our views. They cannot say they don’t accept the Five-Point consensus.
“Because, in 2021, Myanmar were signatories to the Five-Point consensus and this is the best platform to solve the ongoing crisis in Myanmar,” said Mohamad.
Unveiled in April 2021, the Five-Point consensus is a peace effort by Asean on Myanmar.
Presently, the Myanmar junta has refused to engage in talks with its rivals, accusing them of being terrorists.
Asean has barred Myanmar junta leaders from its summits after the February 2021 coup.
But, for the first time in three years, Myanmar has sent a senior foreign ministry official as its representative to the three-day Asean summit in Vientiane.
The ongoing conflict in Myanmar will be high on the agenda of the current Asean summit that will end on Oct 11.
