Indonesia slammed for inviting Myanmar coup leader to ASEAN

Asia Pacific Report — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 13:18:05 +0000

By Ryan Aditya in Jakarta

Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti has condemned the invitation to Myanmar coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing to attend the ASEAN ministerial conference in Jakarta at the weekend as revealing Indonesia’s true colours — that it is accepting of human rights violators.

“Min Aung Hlaing’s arrival actually shows that Indonesia is indeed very apologetic towards human rights violators not just domestically but internationally,” said Maulidiyanti.

Maulidiyanti said that Indonesia had acted the same way when it received Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) extraordinary leadership conference in 2016.

Yet, according to Maulidiyanti, Al-Bashir was a dictator and a fugitive of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Indonesia once did the same thing during the OIC Conference in 2016 when Indonesia also invited Omar Al-Bashir,” she said.

Based on the reception of these two human rights violators, Maulidiyanti questioned Indonesia’s position — which is actually reflected through President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo — with regard to protecting human rights.

The arrival of the Myanmar military junta leader is regrettable because it was as if Indonesia was paying no heed to the violence taking place in Myanmar.

Jakarta not heeding violence
“So here there is actually a question, what face is Indonesia presenting through President Joko Widodo and government officials by not heeding the violence occurring in Myanmar. The aim, rather than inviting the leader of the military junta, is to open dialogue,” she said.

Maulidiyanti questioned what the real aim was in inviting the lead of the Myanmar military junta to Jakarta.

Maulidiyanti emphasised that Indonesia should have invited the Myanmar National Unity Government (NUG) to the ASEAN meeting on Saturday afternoon.

“The government should have instead invited the NUG who are the elected representatives of the Myanmar people,” she said.

On the other hand, Maulidiyanti said that ASEAN had a very important role to play in resolving the problems in Myanmar. ASEAN should immediately take firm measures over the violence being committed by the Myanmar government.

The invitation of Min Aung Hlaing to the ASEAN conference proves that ASEAN was not a safe place for the protection of human rights.

“It can be seen from the cooperation where they don’t want to heed the situation or the importance of acting immediately against the Myanmar government today, meaning ASIAN is not a safe place for protecting human rights”, she said.

Widodo’s response
President Widodo said that the violence in Myanmar must stop. This was one of the points he stressed during the meeting with the eight leaders of ASEAN countries at the ASEAN Leaders Meeting in Jakarta.

“At the meeting earlier I conveyed several things. First, the situation developing in Myanmar is something which is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue,” said Widodo during a virtual press conference on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube channel.

“The violence must stop. Democracy and stability as well as peace in Myanmar must be restored immediately. The interests of the Myanmar people must always be the priority,” he said.

Second, Widodo emphasised the importance of General Min Aung Hlaing making two commitments.

An end to the use of violence by the Myanmar military and that all parties must restrain themselves so that tensions can be eased so that a process of dialogue can be begun.

“Political prisoners must be released immediately and an ASEAN special envoy needs to be established, namely the ASEAN secretary general and chairperson to promote dialogue between all parties in Myanmar,” said Widodo.

Third, he asked that access be given for humanitarian aid from ASEAN which would be coordinated by the ASEAN secretary general and the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Center).

Widodo also asserted that Indonesia wass committed to overseeing the above three commitments so that the crisis in Myanmar could be resolved.

“We thank God that what has been conveyed by Indonesia will turn out to be in accord with what has been conveyed by ASEAN leaders so it can be said that ASEAN leaders have reached a consensus,” said Widodo.

“The ASEAN secretary general has conveyed five points of concusses which will be conveyed by the ASEAN secretary general or chairperson. The contents are more or less the same as those that I conveyed earlier in the national statement which I conveyed earlier,” added the president.

The ASEAN leaders meeting which was held today in Jakarta was attended by the leaders of the nine countries in Southeast Asia: President Joko Widodo, Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính, Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Myanmar military chief General Min Aung Hlaing, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Hassin, Laos Foreign Affairs Minister Laos Saleumxay Kommasith, Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Soroti Kehadiran Min Aung Hlaing, Kontras: Indonesia Apologetik kepada Pelanggar HAM”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Myanmar’s junta plans draconian cyber-security law to stifle dissent

Asia Pacific Report — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 11:18:11 +0000

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned a proposed cyber-security law in Myanmar that would organise online censorship and force social media platforms to share private information about their users when requested by the authorities.

The draft law, which has just been leaked, is clearly designed to prevent pro-democracy activists from continuing to organise the demonstrations that have been taking place every day in cities across Myanmar in response to the military coup on February 1.

The State Administration Council – as the new military junta euphemistically calls itself – sent a copy of the proposed law to internet access and online service providers on February 9.

And the junta is expected to make it public on February 15.

The draft law, which RSF has seen, would require online platforms and service providers operating in Myanmar to keep all user data in a place designated by the government for three years.

‘Causing hate, destabilisation’
Article 29 would give the government the right to order an account’s “interception, removal, destruction or cessation” in the event of any content “causing hate or disrupting unity, stabilisation and peace,” any “disinformation,” or any comment going “against any existing law.”

This extremely vague wording would give the government considerable interpretative leeway and would in practice allow it to ban any content it disliked and to prosecute its author.

Article 30, on the other hand, is very specific about the data that online service providers must hand over to the government when requested: the user’s name, IP address, phone number, ID card number and physical address.

Any violation of the law would be punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of 10 million kyats (6200 euros). Those convicted on more than one count would, of course, serve the corresponding jail terms consecutively.

RSF submission
“The provisions of this cyber-security law pose a clear threat to the right of Myanmar’s citizens to reliable information and to the confidentiality of journalists’ and bloggers’ data,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF Asia-Pacific desk.

“We urge digital actors operating in Myanmar, starting with Facebook, to refuse to comply with this shocking attempt to bring them to heel. This junta has absolutely no democratic legitimacy and it would be highly damaging for platforms to submit too its tyrannical impositions.”

Facebook has nearly 25 million users in Myanmar – 45 percent of the population. Three days after the February 1 coup, the junta suddenly blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

But many of the country’s citizens have been using VPNs (virtual private networks) to circumvent the censorship.

The proposed law’s leak has coincided with social media reports of the arrival of many Chinese technicians tasked with setting up an internet barrier and cybersurveillance system of the kind operating in China, which is an expert in this domain.

Earlier this week, RSF reported the comments of several journalists who have been trying to cover the protests against the military coup, and who said that press freedom has been set back 10 years in the space of 10 days, back to where it was before the start of the democratisation process.

Myanmar is ranked 139th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Junta – Evening Report

Indonesia slammed for inviting Myanmar coup leader to ASEAN

Myanmar’s junta plans draconian cyber-security law to stifle dissent