Indonesia’s Myanmar visit draws attention to ASEAN engagement

Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono’s June 8 visit to Myanmar has sharpened attention on ASEAN’s search for a workable approach to a country still mired in conflict, after several foreign ministers from the bloc opened fresh channels with Naypyidaw.

The trip was the first official visit by an Indonesian minister to Myanmar since the 2021 military coup.

It attracted scrutiny because Jakarta has long been one of ASEAN’s more vocal advocates of holding Myanmar’s military regime to account.

Analysts told The Straits Times, however, that the move should not be read as a major departure from Indonesia’s position.

“It could be seen as a pragmatic recalibration,” said Joanne Lin, senior fellow and coordinator of the ASEAN Studies Centre at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.

“Jakarta’s move reflects a broader recognition that isolation alone has not delivered meaningful progress,” she added.

“While Indonesia remains supportive of the ASEAN 5PC, what appears to be changing is the emphasis,” she said, referring to ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus, the peace road map adopted in 2021.

During his visit to Naypyidaw, Sugiono delivered a message from President Prabowo Subianto reaffirming Indonesia’s support for an inclusive and sustainable peace process in Myanmar, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said.

He also reiterated Jakarta’s backing for the peace plan, saying Indonesia was prepared to work with stakeholders in Myanmar to encourage dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Sugiono later described his talks with junta chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing as having taken place in a “cordial, positive, open and constructive atmosphere”.

Indonesia is not alone in testing a more direct line of engagement.

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow visited Naypyidaw in April and publicly offered to act as a bridge between Myanmar and ASEAN.

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan also travelled there in May as part of efforts to reassess the bloc’s approach.

For Jakarta, the visit may help preserve influence over developments in Myanmar while reinforcing Indonesia’s role within ASEAN, Lin noted.

“Indonesia may see that maintaining direct channels allows it to convey ASEAN’s expectations more effectively,” she said.

The renewed debate comes after elections held between December 2025 and January 2026 were widely criticised by opposition groups and rights advocates as neither free nor inclusive.

The polls cleared the way for Min Aung Hlaing to become president in April, fuelling fresh questions inside ASEAN over how to deal with Myanmar’s leadership while still pressing for progress on peace efforts.

Since the coup, ASEAN has largely kept Myanmar’s military leaders out of high-level meetings, citing the junta’s failure to implement the Five-Point Consensus.

The plan calls for an immediate end to violence, dialogue among all parties, the appointment of a special envoy and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

But with little progress achieved, some in the region are reconsidering how to engage Naypyidaw without easing pressure on the military leadership.

ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn has also addressed the issue, telling Reuters on May 8 that the bloc’s foreign ministers had agreed to a virtual meeting with their Myanmar counterpart.

Lin said ASEAN members increasingly recognise that the current approach has reached its limits.

“In this sense, engagement between ASEAN member states and the junta is increasingly being viewed not as a recognition of the new government, but as a practical necessity,” she said.

Analysts also noted that Indonesia has never fully disengaged from Myanmar.

Julia Lau, principal fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute and coordinator of its Indonesia Studies Programme, said Sugiono’s language may have sounded softer, but did not necessarily indicate a fundamental policy shift.

“I do not see this as a significant change in tone from Indonesia,” Lau said.

She pointed to Indonesia’s activism during its 2023 ASEAN chairmanship, when then-foreign minister Retno Marsudi led extensive behind-the-scenes diplomacy with ASEAN members and external partners in an effort to move the peace plan forward.

“It is clear that there has been minimal progress on all of the 5PC’s conditions, but Indonesia likely still believes there is a chance it can play some role as a mediator or intermediary in finding some resolution to the stalemate that is Myanmar,” Lau said.

Dr Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst at Solaris Strategies Singapore, said Indonesia deserved credit for continuing to seek a solution to the crisis.

“Whether in the end the outcome is fruitful, credit should be given to Indonesia for staying the course to find a resolution to the Myanmar conundrum,” he said.

“The driving impetus to solve the Myanmar conundrum stems from Indonesia positioning itself under Prabowo as a principled and pragmatic middle power that seeks to mediate conflicts as a humane internationalist.”

Some Indonesian observers believe Jakarta’s own political past may shape its thinking on Myanmar.

Teuku Rezasyah, a lecturer in international relations at President University in Cikarang, Indonesia, told ST that Myanmar could draw lessons from Indonesia’s post-1998 transition, when the military gradually withdrew from politics before former military figures later returned through democratic elections.

“President Prabowo is uneasy seeing the unsettled Myanmar issue and would like to make a breakthrough,” he said.

Still, the risks of engagement remain significant.

Lin warned that bilateral contact by individual ASEAN members could be misread as legitimising Myanmar’s military leadership if it is not matched by tangible progress on the ground.

“The most important concern is that such engagement could be perceived as conferring legitimacy on the military leadership without corresponding progress on the ground,” she said.

She added that ASEAN’s credibility could suffer if member states pursued separate bilateral approaches without common objectives.

Engagement could be useful if it advanced the Five-Point Consensus, but moves seen as normalising relations with the junta despite limited progress could raise questions about the bloc’s consistency and commitment to its own decisions.

Lau also cautioned that differing views among ASEAN members on how quickly Myanmar should be brought back into regional diplomacy could expose divisions within the bloc.

“The risk would be that ASEAN consensus may be seen as elusive or fragile, given the varying positions of each ASEAN member state regarding how soon to reintegrate Myanmar politically,” she said.

The Straits Times