Jakarta. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Friday told reporters that ASEAN chair Indonesia's "non-megaphone diplomacy" does not mean that it is spending time doing nothing to address the crisis in fellow member state Myanmar.

According to Retno, Indonesia favors quiet diplomacy as it gives room for the parties involved to be more open in the discussions. 

Indonesia has had more than 60 engagements with the stakeholders in Myanmar over the past four months of its ASEAN chairmanship — be it virtual, in-person, or site visits. The stakeholders in question include the junta State Administration Council (SAC), Myanmar’s government-in-exile National Unity Government (NUG), as well as ethnic armed organizations (EAOs). 

Indonesia has communicated with neighboring and key countries such as India, China, the US, the European Union (EU), Japan, and Thailand. The ASEAN chair has also been engaging the United Nations (UN) in hopes to bring peace to Myanmar.

“Non-megaphone diplomacy or quiet diplomacy does not mean Indonesia is doing nothing. It is actually the opposite. In the past four months, Indonesia has done many things that hopefully can help with the next effort,” Retno told a press briefing.

Indonesia had always pushed for an inclusive national dialogue in these engagements, although the ASEAN chair admitted there remained a huge gap between the stakeholders in Myanmar. Retno said: “Even so, Indonesia will not give up as [ASEAN] chair and will continue to try bridging these differences and hold such engagements.”

The engagements also discussed the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar. 

The first phase of this humanitarian assistance was aid to help Myanmar combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Retno said. The senior diplomat added that the second phase of the humanitarian aid —which she called “life-sustaining”— faced some obstacles. The AHA Center struggled to access the regions outside the control of the Myanmar military.

“After this press briefing, I will talk with the stakeholders in Myanmar again so this humanitarian assistance can go as planned, just like how we have discussed in these four months,” Retno told the conference.

The AHA Centre is the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance. The five-point peace plan on Myanmar states that the ASEAN shall provide humanitarian assistance through the AHA Centre.

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