ON MYANMAR AND BRICS
Dr Balakrishnan was also asked to comment on the Myanmar situation, and how some ASEAN member states have engaged the Myanmar military government independently.
Last December, Thailand hosted a meeting on Myanmar involving the war-torn country’s five neighbours, including China, Bangladesh and India.
At the meeting, the junta’s foreign minister Than Swe outlined a political roadmap and progress on election preparations, including a population census and registration of 53 political parties.
Dr Balakrishnan stated that Myanmar’s neighbours in ASEAN have “greater vulnerabilities” as they are more exposed to violence, illegal activities like drug trafficking and the outflow of refugees.
However, he stressed that even with different levels of vulnerabilities, all the member states want Myanmar to achieve “national reconciliation”.
“None of us want to interfere in the internal affairs of a fellow ASEAN (member). So in that respect, the more channels of communication, the more potential arena for all the different stakeholders in Myanmar to come together, the better,” he added.
Myanmar has been in a state of unrest since February 2021, when its military seized control and ousted a democratically elected government, sparking protests and leaving the junta struggling to hold on to its power.
Since the military coup, more than 5,000 civilians have been killed and over 3.3 million displaced, according to a United Nations report in September 2024.
Dr Balakrishnan was also asked if Singapore was concerned with some ASEAN member states forging closer ties with the likes of Russia and China in their effort to pursue closer ties with the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group of emerging economies.
BRICS, established in 2009, initially included Brazil, Russia, India, and China, while South Africa joined a year later. It has since expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Indonesia formally joined the grouping earlier this month, the first Southeast Asian nation to do so.
