Mizima.com-Oct 17
Campaign group Progressive Voice has called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take action against member states that provide assistance and arms to the Myanmar junta. It says that despite well-documented evidence of decades-long war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military, the arms flow has continued to reach Naypyidaw uninterrupted. With multiple of its member states directly involved in fueling the junta’s nationwide terror campaign against the people of Myanmar, in which children have been systematically targeted, ASEAN must take direct and concrete actions to hold its member states accountable for being complicit in and to stop aiding and abetting the military junta’s crimes against the people of Myanmar. The recent complaint filed with Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights, claiming that three state-owned arms manufacturers might have sold military hardware to the Myanmar military, represents the latest example of a far-reaching and vicious cycle of violations and complicity of regional and international actors in the Myanmar military’s international crimes.
On 2 October 2023, Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP) and the former Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, who also chaired the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, filed a complaint against three Indonesian state-owned enterprises for allegedly selling “handguns, assault rifles, ammunition, combat vehicles and other equipment” to the military. Those three enterprises are PT Pindad, PT PAL, and PT Dirgantara Indonesia. According to Progressive Voice, this complaint regarding three Indonesian state-owned arms manufacturers is similar to the recent Singapore arms deals.
As exposed by Justice For Myanmar’s campaign Dirty Over 30, Singapore represents a haven for Myanmar tycoons and cronies that operate as the junta’s arm brokers. Read more at: https://www.mizzima.com/article/asean-must-take-action-against-members-supporting-myanmar-junta
