Indonesia president urges halt to Myanmar violence, wants ASEAN talks

FILE PHOTO: Indonesian President Joko Widodo gestures during an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, November 13, 2020. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday called for bloodshed to be halted in military-ruled Myanmar and for Southeast Asian leaders to hold a high-level meeting to try to find a way out of the country's escalating crisis.

In some of the strongest comments yet by a regional leader on Myanmar's violent crackdown on anti-coup demonstrations, Jokowi, as the president is best known, said he would immediately call Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the current chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and press him to call an urgent meeting.