Jakarta. ASEAN has decided to establish a troika of chairs --Indonesia, Laos, and Malaysia-- in a new move to cool down the crisis in Myanmar following sluggish progress in the five-point peace plan.

According to a leaders’ review document on the five-point consensus, the troika is an informal consultation mechanism that may consist of current, previous, and incoming ASEAN chairs. The document does not elaborate on how this troika will work, but it will focus on addressing the Myanmar crisis in line with the previously agreed five-point consensus.

“ASEAN will continue its efforts. Indonesia as chair has presented five steps ASEAN can help Myanmar. One of them is by establishing a troika mechanism,” Jokowi told reporters on Thursday after the 43rd ASEAN Summit’s closing ceremony, without going into details on the group of three.

Jokowi said that Indonesia had held 145 engagements with 70 stakeholders over the past 9 months of its ASEAN chairmanship. He added: “And we notice that trust is growing between the stakeholders.”

Earlier that day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also briefly mentioned the troika when speaking to the press. 

“We are strongly hopeful that after Indonesia, with Laos and also the Troika -- Indonesia, Laos, and Malaysia -- ASEAN will remain totally committed to finding a political solution in Myanmar,” Guterres said in a press briefing.

“And that political solution will of course need the release of all political prisoners and need to clearly pave the way for the reestablishment of democratic institutions in the country,” Guterres said.

Indonesia has just passed over its ASEAN chairmanship baton to Laos who will take the helm next year. Malaysia is slated to assume ASEAN chairmanship in 2025. 

ASEAN leaders at the 43rd ASEAN Summit agreed to stick to the five-point consensus as its main reference to address the Myanmar crisis. 

The five-point consensus is a peace plan that the bloc had agreed on in 2021. Two years have passed since ASEAN adopted the five-point consensus, which the military junta has failed to implement to this day. The consensus calls for an immediate cessation of violence, but the death toll in military crackdowns continues to rise.

Human rights organization Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported that since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, the junta and pro-military groups have killed 4,054 people as of Thursday. The junta has also arrested 24,730 people.

Read More: Indonesia Passes ASEAN Chairmanship Baton to Laos

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