Fire and flames ate away at the flag of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during heated protests on the streets of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, last weekend after two emissaries from the regional organization met with junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
ASEAN chairman Lim Jock Hoi and Brunei’s Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Erywan Pehin Yusof visited Naypyitaw on June 4 to discuss the appointment of the grouping’s special envoy and delivery of humanitarian aid, but departed amid questions of whether the Bruneian diplomats had inadvertently legitimized Myanmar’s military regime.
By Tuesday (June 8) morning, a statement on the visit was removed from the ASEAN secretariat’s website after it had referred to the senior general and chief architect of February’s coup as the “Chairman of the State Administrative Council” (SAC) – in other words, the leader of the country rather than the leader of the armed forces.
The diplomatic gaffe, coupled with the slow pace of progress on implementing the five-point consensus reached by ASEAN leaders at an April 24 meeting in Jakarta, has sown fury among opponents of the military takeover in Myanmar and fueled rising criticism among the region’s commentariat of Brunei’s management of the crisis as ASEAN’s chair.
Read the full story at Asia Times.
Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
