It is almost 150 days since the military coup happened in Myanmar, and still, the people of Myanmar are fighting for their rights and freedom any way they can. From February 1, the State Administration Council (SAC) formed by the Myanmar military exercised a brutal crackdown on protestors resulting in more than 860 dead and arbitrary detentions leading to more than 5000 political prisoners.

Global awareness of the Myanmar issue has risen, and questions such as “Why the United Nation cannot issue the Responsibility to Protect on Myanmar quickly?” also rises. The answer is quite simple, the two superpowers of the UN security council, the People’s republic of China and Russia, are leaning towards the brutal Junta, the SAC, rejecting every possible action rather than releasing statements. The people of Myanmar are expecting the UN to punish the notorious Myanmar military, in combination with the Rohingya genocide case.

In fact, Myanmar is located in a geopolitical trap, neighboring two big countries, and the ASEAN countries where most of them shared the similar fate of dictatorship up to the present day. Because of the half-century-long dictatorship, Myanmar military Junta had to sell the natural resources mainly to PR China where China can leech out the resources at a cheap price and the military Junta and their acquaintances, the cronies, get richer. It is one of the reasons why PR China keeps saying “Myanmar’s problems are just an internal affair”. The military Junta also has a good relationship with Russia, mainly on the arms trade and scholarship programs for military officers. The standpoint of Russia was clearly seen on Armed Force Day held by the SAC on March 27, where the Russian Deputy Defense Minister attended willingly, amidst the SAC’s fear of drone strikes on that particular day.

Even with the serial violations of human rights and serious crimes against humanity, the powerlessness of the UN on Myanmar’s critical conditions is quite disappointing to the eyes of the activists who stand with Justice. Without knowing how to continue, the UN brings ASEAN to the front to handle the situation since some members of UNSC are also stating “Myanmar’s issue should be handled via ASEAN”. PR China was also enthusiastically welcoming that ASEAN resolution way, seemingly in “It is in my pocket.” mode, knowingly nothing will happen from this.

Due to the formation of the National Unity Government (NUG) on April 16, by the elected parliament members of the 2020 election, the military’s SAC realized there would be a legitimacy crisis in international relations since the international communities including the UN are still not recognizing the legitimacy of the SAC. In short, the thrive for legitimacy makes Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of SAC, go outside Myanmar risking his own safety, to attend the special meeting at the ASEAN summit in Indonesia. As soon as the news arises, Thailand’s PM, Prayut Chanocha, and Philippine’s President, Rodrigo Duterte, refused to attend the special meeting. During the meeting, Min Aung Hlaing’s bloody hands had been welcomed with the red carpet and proper greetings. Even the other leaders of ASEAN with good intention tried to convince Min Aung Hlaing, their statements are literally trying to make the handshake between the mass murderer and the oppressed citizens, instead of punishing the violator.

When Min Aung Hlaing safely arrived back home, he stated he can follow the statements only if the peace is restored. It is obviously “the circular reasoning” since his military is the one that destroyed the peace, and it is still continuing the violent oppression and crackdowns on protestors, and the airstrike on

the ethnic minorities violating the Geneva convention. It seems all the statements in ASEAN special meeting got ridiculed by the Military Junta.

Even the UN, the EU, and the US have so much expectation on ASEAN, most of the ASEAN countries are embedded with the shadow of dictatorship and fake democracy. On top of that, Min Aung Hlaing had tried to take advantage of that meeting, the legitimacy for his SAC. Indeed, the ASEAN recognizes the legitimacy of neither the NUG nor the SAC, but the invitation of the mass murderer to the special meeting is somehow validating his SAC which is a direct insult to the fallen heroes of Myanmar.

Moreover, ASEAN was making “the deadlock”, to the Myanmar issue where nothing is happening but the prolongation of the immediate actions which should have already been taken by the United Nations. Now the clock is ticking more and more as Myanmar is leaning towards a failed state. Most of the activists in Myanmar lost their hope in the UN and started to prepare a full resistance by joining the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs).

Since Myanmar’s case is a textbook example of “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” where the murder and oppression defeat the democracy and the will of the people, the UN must show the world it is a powerful organization to stop such atrocities and injustice. If the UN fails to react in this case, the people of the world will lose the trust in democracy and rather tend to the world of arms.

Conclusively, the ASEAN intervened in the wrong place at the wrong time, in the wrong way. Surely, the outcome is not impressive, but, this failure can be a stepping stone for the UN to take action in full bloom.

Lee Chen is the pseudonym for a writer who covers Asian affairs