Asean at crossroads as Hun Sen eyes Myanmar

In this file photo taken on Oct 13, 2009, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) poses with his son Hun Manet during a ceremony at a military base in Phnom Penh. - AFP

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): A senior Asean official said on Tuesday (Dec 7)that incoming regional chair Cambodia “would and ought to” reflect the bloc’s stance “in its entirety”, as Prime Minister Hun Sen prepares to visit Myanmar next month, nearly a year after the latter's military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

More than 10 months after Myanmar’s Tatmadaw staged a coup to overthrow the country’s democratically elected leader, the South-East Asian “family” Asean looks no closer to getting the military regime to respect the regionally mandated Five-Point Consensus that aims to bring an end to the violence and turmoil plaguing the country.