MYANMAR: Indonesia and ASEAN Set Up New Office to Deal With Myanmar Crisis

Posted by Asia Views | Jan 13, 2023 | 0 |

Irrawaddy-Jan 12

Indonesia’s foreign minister Retno Marsudi announced on Wednesday that she will lead a newly-set up office of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special envoy on Myanmar, to engage with all stakeholders to address the post-coup crisis in the ASEAN member state. Indonesia holds the ASEAN chair for 2023. During a Wednesday event in the Indonesian capital Jakarta outlining Indonesia’s foreign policy for 2023, foreign minister Retno Marsudi said that as ASEAN chair, and in accordance with the mandate of the Five-Point Consensus adopted by ASEAN in 2021, Indonesia will make every effort to help Myanmar out of its political crisis and won’t allow the Myanmar issue to hold the bloc’s development hostage. “Only through engagement with all stakeholders can the agreement’s mandate to facilitate the creation of national dialogue be fulfilled,” the foreign minister was quoted as saying in a report in the Jakarta Post newspaper. The last two ASEAN chairs, Brunei and Cambodia, largely failed to push Myanmar’s military regime to implement the agreed Five-Point Consensus, a peace plan that calls for an immediate end to violence in the country, dialogue among all parties concerned, the appointment of a special envoy, provision of humanitarian assistance by ASEAN, and a visit by the ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar to meet with all parties. Daw Zin Mar Aung, the foreign minister for the parallel National Unity Government (NUG), said in a recent exclusive interview with The Irrawaddy that she expects Indonesia, as ASEAN chair, to engage with all stakeholders and to listen to the voices of not only the military regime but Spring Revolution forces, political groups, ethnic revolutionary organizations, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and the NUG. The NUG foreign minister added that she thinks Indonesia will take a more active approach to resolving the Myanmar crisis, as the country has relevant experience of transforming itself from a military-dominated parliament into a democracy and that will be helpful in the case of Myanmar. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/indonesia-and-asean-set-up-new-office-to-deal-with-myanmar-crisis.html

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

MYANMAR: Indonesia and ASEAN Set Up New Office to Deal With Myanmar Crisis

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