Myanmar’s Photojournalist Sentenced to 20 Years, Showcasing ASEAN’s Ineffectiveness

On Wednesday, Sai Zaw Thaike, a photojournalist in Myanmar, received a harsh sentence of 20 years in prison with hard labor for capturing images that documented the aftermath of a deadly cyclone. The ruling military junta accused him of incitement, sedition, and spreading misinformation. This secret trial, conducted without legal representation, further solidifies Myanmar’s reputation as one of the world’s most egregious violators of human rights.

Following the military coup in February 2021, which triggered a bloody civil war, Myanmar has witnessed over 4,000 deaths and an estimated 20,000 imprisonments of those opposing the military regime. Many prisoners remain missing and are believed to have been murdered by the regime. In June, approximately 50 individuals were arrested merely for posting anti-regime content on social media.

Ironically, while Sai Zaw Thaike faced his unwarranted sentence, leaders from Myanmar’s neighboring countries gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. The Myanmar junta was intentionally excluded from this gathering, which presented a perfect opportunity for ASEAN to denounce the ongoing atrocities committed by the regime and devise an effective plan to reverse the coup and alleviate the suffering.

However, the outcome of the Jakarta summit highlighted the ineffectiveness and irrelevance of ASEAN. Instead of presenting a unified front, ASEAN’s members, excluding Myanmar, failed to agree on a common policy to address one of the world’s most pressing human rights abuses.

The resulting statement from the summit condemned the violence and called on the Myanmar Armed Forces and all parties involved to de-escalate violence and cease targeted attacks on civilians and nonmilitary areas. The statement urged a return to ASEAN’s 2021 “five-point consensus,” which advocates for a ceasefire and constructive dialogue in the ongoing civil war. Unsurprisingly, Myanmar’s generals dismissed the statement as biased, just as they disregarded the 2021 consensus.

While Indonesia, the current ASEAN chair, cannot be faulted for the summit’s failure, the flaws lie within ASEAN itself. Originally established in 1967 by five nations aiming to prevent communism’s spread during the Vietnam War, ASEAN’s descent into paralysis can be traced back to the mid-1990s when it admitted Communist-run countries and Myanmar, despite their poor records on democracy and human rights. This decision prioritized geographic cohesiveness over adherence to democratic principles.

The ASEAN bloc consists of Vietnam and Laos, governed by Communist parties, Cambodia under a long-serving leader’s dictatorship, Brunei as an absolute monarchy, Thailand with military and monarchy influence, and Singapore as a quasi-democratic autocracy. Only Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines can genuinely be classified as democratic.

ASEAN’s foundations are built on “consensus” and “noninterference” in internal affairs, rendering the organization ineffective. Consensus allows any member country to exercise veto power, resulting in watered-down joint statements lacking substance. Noninterference permits ASEAN to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses. Myanmar has become a divisive issue within ASEAN, with Thailand engaging the military regime and Malaysia and Indonesia supporting the self-styled National Unity Government, which opposes the junta.

Complicating matters, some ASEAN countries, such as Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, heavily depend on China for their economies. As the United States and Europe isolate Myanmar, China has intensified its involvement in the country, as evidenced by the visit of China’s former foreign minister in May. Furthermore, ASEAN’s rotating presidency, based on the alphabetical order of English country names, will fall to Laos next year, a nation that serves as China’s proxy state in Southeast Asia.

ASEAN’s only concrete action at the Jakarta summit was to deny Myanmar the rotating presidency in 2026, a mere slap on the wrist. To exert real economic pressure, ASEAN could implement a collective embargo on oil and palm oil exports to Myanmar, impose sanctions on the state-owned oil company, and target sanctions on the junta leaders and their assets held in Southeast Asian countries. ASEAN could also engage in dialogue with the National Unity Government, the legitimate representative of the Myanmar people in exile.

However, such measures require unity of purpose, akin to the European Union’s response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Unfortunately, ASEAN lacks this unity and is consigning itself to irrelevance until it overcomes its internal divisions.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the editorial board.

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