KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — ASEAN should continue with efforts to resolve the conflict in Myanmar in a wise and cautious manner in order to maintain stability in the region, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.
He said if ASEAN failed to address the situation in Myanmar together, there was a risk of interference by outside powers in the conflict.
“If we fail to address it in the ASEAN context, it will create problems arising not from within ASEAN but due to efforts of certain quarters to try and enter Myanmar, leading to a race for geopolitical control in the area.
“This is why the approach taken on Myanmar is that it should be settled the ASEAN way, and it cannot be done by one country alone without discussions in the context of other ASEAN countries,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying to a supplementary question from Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal (PN-Machang), who wanted to know of any drastic steps taken by the government to resolve the issue in Myanmar.
Zambry said that at a retreat last February, ASEAN had stated its commitment to continue with efforts to seek a solution to the Myanmar conflict by strengthening the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus (5PC).
To a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (PH-Kuala Selangor) on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s proposal to ‘carve out’ Myanmar following the conflict, Zamry clarified that it did not mean taking that country out of ASEAN.
He said what the prime minister meant was that he did not want other ASEAN countries to make the Myanmar question the main issue to the extent of forgetting other priorities to strengthen the region.
“There are other priorities which need attention, especially in the context of the ASEAN economy and at the same time we should strengthen our efforts based on the agreed ASEAN 5PC because it has short- and long-term objectives to be continued.
“We should keep up our efforts and not be disappointed as we should prevent the Myanmar issue from becoming another flash point in our region, and Insya-Allah it won’t happen,” he added.
