This statement is issued by Dato’ Sri Saifuddin Abdullah, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia and current member of the House of Representatives of Malaysia; Khun Kasit Piromya, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand; and three former UN experts on Myanmar who are founding members of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M)

18 July 2026: The Philippines’ term as ASEAN Chair is in a tailspin as Secretary of Foreign Affairs Ma. Theresa Lazaro brings a disastrous combination of timidity and poor judgment to her role as Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar.

Special Envoy Lazaro rewarded the Myanmar military junta’s bloodshed and recalcitrance by agreeing to convene an informal meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers with the junta’s “foreign minister”, hosted on 12 July in junta-friendly Thailand.

In a baffling move by the Philippines’ most senior diplomat, Lazaro agreed to the meeting without extracting a single concession from junta leader and accused war criminal Min Aung Hlaing. Lazaro did not even request a pause in the junta’s atrocity campaign against civilians for the meeting’s short duration. According to reports by the Karen Peace Support Network, junta airstrikes targeting Mutraw district in Karen State on 12 July injured four people, including an eight-year-old boy.

Five years after the high watermark of the Five Point Consensus (5PC), ASEAN appears adamant on adding humiliation of its own making to the junta’s open contempt for the bloc’s ham-fisted efforts at brokering an end to Myanmar’s military-triggered crises.

The Bangkok meeting ended ASEAN’s ban on high-level engagement with senior junta officials, a measure in place since 2021 after Min Aung Hlaing reneged on the 5PC before the ink was even dry.

Malaysia, which worked hard to build bridges with legitimate Myanmar stakeholders during its term as ASEAN Chair last year, had the awareness to send a lower ranked official to the meeting. Singapore’s Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan – conscious of the catastrophe his country will inherit next year as ASEAN Chair – pressed the “central importance” of the 5PC and the need for “demonstrable progress” by the junta.

The world is watching ASEAN’s implosion on Myanmar with growing alarm. Just last week, the UN Human Rights Council in its new resolution on the situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar expressed deep concern at the military junta’s lack of progress in implementing the 5PC. The Council also called on ASEAN to engage in inclusive dialogue with the National Unity Government, ethnic organizations and broader civil society and affected populations, including Rohingya and other minorities.

ASEAN Foreign Ministers must use their approaching meeting in Manila, running 20-22 July, to stem their self-inflicted damage and to salvage ASEAN’s shredded reputation. ASEAN must immediately restore its blanket ban on engagement with senior junta officials and demand the full and immediate implementation of the 5PC, including the cessation of all junta violence, the unconditional release of all political prisoners, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to all persons in need.

The junta’s new proxy “parliament” has rejected the 5PC, so ASEAN should move swiftly to develop a new operating framework with a clear end game. This must include an escalating series of consequences triggered by continued junta non-compliance with the 5PC.

ASEAN Foreign Ministers should also convene a series of formal consultations with Myanmar’s legitimate democratic stakeholders, given their professed commitment to facilitating a peaceful solution based on the genuine will and aspirations of the Myanmar people. These meetings should assemble the full membership of the Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union including the National Unity Government, ethnic organisations, Myanmar civil society and representatives of minority communities, including those who have been forced to leave Myanmar.

ASEAN’s failure on Myanmar while the country burns and the junta entrenches itself poses serious questions about the bloc’s durability. Next week’s Foreign Ministers’ Meeting demands a reset. Myanmar lives and ASEAN’s own future depend on it.

Dato’ Sri Saifuddin Abdullah

Khun Kasit Piromya

Marzuki Darusman

Yanghee Lee

Chris Sidoti