Myanmar open to peace talks, M’sia keen to play mediator, says Tok Mat

VIENTIANE: Myanmar has opened its doors to talks on solving its internal crises and Malaysia wants to seize this opportunity to bring all warring factions in the ongoing civil war to the negotiation table, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

The Foreign Minister said it was a good development that Myanmar has sent a senior foreign ministry official as its representative to the Asean Summit in Vientiane this year for the first time since 2021.

“Before this, they shut their doors. They did not want to negotiate and communicate at all.

“So, this is clear that they are opening their doors to negotiations and we want to take this opportunity to negotiate with various parties there,” said Mohamad during a press conference at a hotel in the Laotian capital on Thursday (Oct 10) night.

He stressed that it is crucial that peace talks with Myanmar does not only involve its military junta.

“One-sided negotiations will not solve the ongoing issue in Myanmar because various factions are claiming that they are stronger than one another,” added Mohamad.

Mohamad is hoping for preliminary talks with the Myanmar junta to commence before the end of this year as Malaysia prepares to chair Asean next year.

“We are not forcing them, but they sent a signal that they are waiting for Malaysia. So, they are able to talk to Malaysia.

“Since Malaysia is chairing Asean next year, this makes things easier for us,” said Mohamad.

According to Mohamad, the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, especially its raging civil war, has dominated talks during the 44th and 45th Asean Summit and Related Summits that began on Oct 9.

“It is not just the military junta that are committing atrocities towards their own people, but also many warlords who are currently separatist factions, such as the Arakan (Army), the Shan (state army) and among others,” said Mohamad.

Mohamad said the Five-Point Consensus is the best platform to solve the ongoing crisis, but it has borne very little result since it was introduced in 2021.

“Myanmar has become an international issue concerning human rights. Millions of their own citizens were forced to flee from their villages and many were killed.

“We talk about Gaza, but at the same time, Asean is facing the same issue in our own region,” said Mohamad.

“So, this is a challenge to Asean and Malaysia, as Chair next year, will assume this heavy duty and responsibility to solve the Myanmar issue,” said Mohamad.

The Five-Point Consensus is a peace effort by Asean on Myanmar’s ongoing civil war after its military ousted an elected civilian government.

It calls for an immediate end to violence, dialogue among all parties and the appointment of a special envoy, allowing humanitarian assistance by Asean, as well as allowing the special envoy to visit Myanmar to meet with all parties.

Asean 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 summit in Vientiane.

Mohamad said three countries – Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia – have been mandated by Asean to negotiate with Myanmar on the Five-Point Consensus and the troika of countries will meet in Bangkok next month for that purpose.

“The three countries, in fact, have held many meetings and the last meeting was last week,” added Mohamad.

Meanwhile, he said all Asean member nations have collectively stated that the ongoing Israeli mass killings of Palestinians must stop.

According to Mohamad, the matter was spoken at length in various meetings, especially during a courtesy call by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that took place on Thursday (Oct 10) evening.

“We asked if the murder of Palestinian that has spread to Lebanon can be stopped. But, it seems there isn’t a concrete answer by Blinken.

“He (Blinken) said that all sides, including the US, want the conflict to end. But, as you know, the arrogance of Israel does not want to listen to anyone and we hope that their allies that supply weapons and support them, now see the true colours of Israeli,” said Mohamad.

The ongoing conflict in Gaza, which began on Oct 7 last year, has exceeded 42,000 as of Oct 10.

The conflict between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah, began with minor cross-border skirmishes in Oct last year before tensions escalated last month, potentially risking an all-out war in the Middle East.