Myanmar’s military-backed government has rejected ASEAN’s renewed call for the unconditional release of detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi and said there is no need to continue the organisation’s special envoy mechanism, according to the country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
President Min Aung Hlaing, the former army chief who seized power from Suu Kyi’s civilian government in 2021, has sought to gain political legitimacy and restore relations with ASEAN since the takeover.
ASEAN adopted a five-point peace plan for Myanmar in April 2021 aimed at ending the violence and facilitating dialogue among the country’s conflicting parties through a special envoy. Min Aung Hlaing has since been barred from attending high-level ASEAN meetings over his government’s failure to comply with the plan.
In an apparent effort to ease international criticism, Myanmar’s government allowed a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit 81-year-old Suu Kyi last week. It was the first known contact between Suu Kyi and an independent international humanitarian organisation since her detention five years ago.
Suu Kyi is serving a sentence under house arrest at an undisclosed location in the capital, Naypyitaw, after being convicted on charges that her supporters and human rights groups have described as politically motivated.
The Philippines, which currently chairs ASEAN, welcomed the meeting as a step towards dialogue and reconciliation on Friday. It also urged greater access to political detainees and reiterated its call for Suu Kyi’s “complete and unconditional release”.
Myanmar’s Foreign Affairs Ministry criticised the demand in a statement issued late Saturday.
“Although the government has commuted her sentences based on humanitarian considerations, the matter of a full and unconditional release shall only be carried out in accordance with the law,” the ministry said.
The statement added that the government would continue working with ASEAN’s current special envoy, Philippine Foreign Minister Maria Theresa Lazaro, but did not see the need to continue the mechanism after Singapore takes over as ASEAN chair on January 1, 2027.
“At present, the government, which emerged from the multiparty democratic elections reflecting the genuine will of the people, has assumed state responsibility,” the statement said.
More than three months after being sworn in as president following the elections, Min Aung Hlaing dismissed ASEAN’s peace plan in a speech, saying some member states had discriminated against Myanmar and that his government would respond to them on a case-by-case basis.
Critics have rejected the elections, held in December and January, as a sham intended to consolidate the military’s grip on power while giving the appearance of a return to civilian rule.