Daulat Pane

Military Junta Extends Myanmar's State of Emergency

2024-02-02T18:41:39+07:00

Last Wednesday (31/1), the Myanmar military junta again extended the emergency status in the country for the next six months.

The extension of the state of emergency comes ahead of the third anniversary of the coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.

The extension of the emergency status also means that the elections, promised by the authorities following the coup on February 1, 2021, are postponed. Myanmar's military rulers have extended the emergency status several times since taking power.

The decision to declare a state of emergency resulted in mass protests which received a repressive response from the military.

According to the local monitoring group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, since the coup at least around 4,500 civilians have been killed and approximately 20,000 people arrested for political reasons.

Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) stated that more than two million people were forced to flee to various countries, including Indonesia due to violence in Myanmar.

Military junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing admitted that he could not lift the emergency status because it was related to the armed ethnic groups' resistance throughout the country. According to Min Aung, the military is still troubled by coordinated attacks carried out by three ethnic minority rebel groups in northern Myanmar last October. They attacked the junta troops and captured many cities and outposts of the military junta.

Prolonging the state of emergency will certainly not solve the problem. On the contrary, people and groups that oppose military policies will continue to fight.

The political situation occurring in Myanmar also poses challenges to ASEAN's integrity, unity, and relevance. Since the beginning of the conflict, ASEAN, especially Indonesia, which held the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2023, has shown continuous commitment to helping Myanmar come out of the crisis. However, so far, it has not shown satisfactory results.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi has emphasized on various occasions that the 'Five-Point Consensus' achieved at the ASEAN meeting in Jakarta in 2021 is still the main reference for resolving the conflict in Myanmar.

The main points of the 'Five-Point Consensus’ such as "violence must stop immediately in Myanmar and all parties must exercise utmost restraint". And "constructive dialogue between all interested parties must be initiated to find a peaceful solution in the interests of the people", hasn’t been realized properly.

This year, the ASEAN chairmanship is held by Laos. Hopefully, the resolution of Myanmar's problems through the 'Five-Point Consensus' can continue to be encouraged to create peace in Myanmar.

Korean Peninsula is Heating Up Again

2024-01-19T17:59:51+07:00

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula seem to never end. This week, relations between North and South Korea heated up again. The cause is the military activities carried out by both countries.

North Korea tested a ballistic missile equipped with a maneuverable hypersonic warhead last Sunday (14/1). According to the North Korean news agency (KCNA), Wednesday (17/1), the test aimed to verify the glide and maneuvering characteristics of a medium-range hypersonic warhead. In addition to seeing the capabilities of the newly developed high-thrust multi-stage solid fuel engine, Pyongyang claims that the tests do not affect the security of any neighboring country and have nothing to do with the regional situation.

Pyongyang's claims received different responses from South Korea, the United States, and Japan. The three countries agreed that North Korea's provocations were the root of instability in the region.

South Korea, the United States, and Japan also carried out joint naval exercises in the waters of the Korean Peninsula, following North Korea's launch of a hypersonic missile. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Kim Myung-soo, the joint exercise was carried out from Monday (15/1) to Wednesday (17/1) and involved nine warships belonging to the three countries. These include the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, the South Korean Navy destroyer equipped with the Aegis combat system, and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force's Congo-class destroyer.

Admiral Kim Myung emphasized that the naval exercises were aimed at strengthening the three countries' deterrence and response capabilities against North Korean nuclear and missile threats.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula, which has always been overshadowed by conflict, has become even hotter, especially with the emergence of North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un's statement to close the door on reunification with South Korea and proposing to take steps to change the constitution, to redefine relations with Seoul.

Kim Jong-un said that if there was a war on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea could change its constitution to declare that South Korea had been conquered and was part of its territory. Meanwhile, South Korea should be considered the country's number one enemy.

Responding to Pyongyang's statement, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said his government was different from previous governments. He remarked that the Seoul military has extraordinary response capabilities. Yoon also emphasized that if North Korea provokes it, Seoul will punish Pyongyang many times. The verbal war has started, Kim Jong-un and Yoon Suk-yeol are threatening each other.

Recently, the world situation has become quite worrying due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Hamas, Iran's attacks on the ISIS group, and the Israeli Mossad spy agency in Syria and Iraq. Not to mention the mutual attacks between Iran and Pakistan regarding the Jaish al-Adl organization and militant groups, as well as attacks by the United States and Britain against the Houthis in Yemen.

Hopefully, this situation will not be further exacerbated by conditions on the Korean Peninsula. It is hoped that all parties can exercise restraint so that verbal warfare does not develop into armed conflict, let alone open war.

World Leaders Condemn Bomb Attack in Iran

2024-01-05T17:57:07+07:00

At least 84 people were killed and 284 injured as of Thursday (4/1) after two explosions hit Kerman City in south-eastern Iran as crowds were on pilgrimage to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of General Qassem Soleimani. The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was killed in a US drone attack in front of Baghdad airport, Iraq on January 3, 2020.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN), the two explosions occurred in an underground passage last Wednesday (3/1/2024) one kilometer from the burial site. Deputy Governor of Kerman Province, Rahman Jalali, confirmed that the two explosions were the work of terrorists.

Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, emphasized that the perpetrators would definitely receive severe punishment for this tragedy.

The international world also condemns acts of terrorism targeting civilians in Kerman City. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Riyadh rejected and condemned the terrorist attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in a letter to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated that he condemned all forms of terrorism.

Apart from President Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also stated that he would be on Iran's side in fighting this act of terrorism. The explosion had the effect of delaying the visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who was scheduled to arrive in Turkiye on Thursday.

Lebanon and Pakistan also condemned the blast in Kerman City. The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of the serious impact of this action which could disrupt regional security stability. Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar expressed deep condolences over the large number of deaths.

Until yesterday, it wasn’t clear who was responsible for the Kerman bomb. The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in a statement on social media on Thursday claimed responsibility, but this hasn’t been verified. Meanwhile, the bombing that occurred a day after an Israeli drone killed a top Hamas official, Saleh Al Arouri in Beirut, Lebanon, prompted the Political Deputy of the President of Iran, Mohammad Jamshidi to direct accusations at the US and Israel.

On one hand, the US government denied the accusation. On the other hand, Washington warned against further escalation after the alleged Israeli attack on the Hamas leader.

Acts of terrorism, such as the bombings in Kerman City are barbaric and inhumane, especially because the victims are innocent citizens. Therefore, an in-depth investigation is needed to impose charges and punishment for the perpetrators.

Presiden of World Water Council, LOIC FAUCHON: Stop Ignoring Water

2023-02-14T15:41:20+07:00

The World Water Council (WWC) is trying to be the voice of water since its establishment 27 years ago. Since there is no international organisation close to United Nations system in the field of water, the WWC shares and gathers all water communities such as governments, international organizations, NGOs, academics, operators and universities to provide solution to water problem.

President of World Water Council (WWC) Loic Fauchon told Voice of Indonesia on Monday afternoon that there should political will from decision makers to get solution. He added in national level there should laws and budget which could make water as priority. For Indonesia, he said the main problem is not the quantity of water resources but the quality of resources. He believes that related ministers in Indonesia have great concern on providing sanitation and better quality of water.

“Specifically in Indonesia your main problem is not the quantity of water resources but the quality of water resources. And probably I have a lot discussion with different ministries in charge and I understand that they have great consciousness or effort to provide sanitation and good quality of water in the future”, Fuchon said

Indonesia held the Kick-off Meeting of the 10th World Water Forum in Jakarta from 15-16 February 2023.

Fauchon also said the World Water Council will help Indonesia as the nation will help WWC to understand some problems important to Indonesia which to be able to transfer Indonesia’s solution worldwide.

As the president of World Water Council, Fauchon is very attentive about risk management and hydro diplomacy. He said Hydro diplomacy is a new diplomatic issue in this momentum for the future of water. He said there are about 270 water basins around the world and some of them are in tension among neighbouring countries, therefore there should be dialogs to avoid water wars. He also encourage all stake holders to spare water to share prosperity. He could not image prosperity without securing and preserving water. He called al parties to stop ignoring water.//DP