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What's happening in Myanmar currently is a "perfect storm", Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said on Friday (Aug. 6).
Speaking to reporters at a virtual doorstop after the 54th Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Vivian said that on top of the political turmoil and the economic standstill, the country has to deal with the dire Covid-19 situation.
"The violence, unfortunately, has not stopped."
He added that there has been no release of political detainees since they were arrested in February this year. Those who remain in detention include the country's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.
They were detained in a military coup that took control of the country.
Previously, Vivian has called for the junta to release all political detainees -- a move that he said is required in order for all parties involved to reach a long-term peaceful political solution and return to its path of democratic transition.
Singapore extending assistance "to the maximum extent"
On the humanitarian front, Vivian said that Singapore has been extending assistance "to the maximum extent" to the people of Myanmar.
The country is working together with the Myanmar's Red Cross and hopes to do more through the Asean Humanitarian Assistance centre.
"We hope that the assistance provided to Myanmar will reach the people on the ground with urgent and dire needs because of Covid-19," he said.
"Paramount test" of special envoy to Myanmar
The minister also touched on some progress with respect to the political crisis in Myanmar.
Asean had appointed Erywan Yusof, Brunei's second minister for foreign affairs, as a special envoy to Myanmar.
When asked on Yusof's key deliverables, Vivian said that the "paramount test" is whether he will be able to gain access to all the stakeholders in the Myanmar political system.
"The real imperative behind appointing an envoy, is that he should be able to engage all stakeholders across the political spectrum," he said.
"And to the extent that he can act as an honest broker and hopefully encourage, facilitate (and) enable, ultimately, direct, constructive and hopefully positive negotiations and dialogue within Myanmar."
"A country's ultimate destiny is in the hands of its people"
Vivian also highlighted that Singapore had engaged with stakeholders across all political spectrums in Myanmar.
At the end of the day, he noted that the people will be the ones who choose their country's destiny.
"Singapore, as you know, believes very firmly, that there should be no external interference in a country," he said.
"A country's ultimate destiny is in the hands of its people."
Southeast Asia epicentre of Delta variant
Another discussion that took place among the foreign ministers was the Covid-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia.
Singapore reiterated its stance on donating its excess vaccines under the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access (Covax) initiative to its Asean neighbours.
"Singapore can be safe and can really open up until our neighbours also make significant progress in dealing with (Covid-19)," Vivian said.
He also mentioned that another issue that was discussed relating to Covid-19 was the mutual recognition of vaccine certificates.
According to him, without a system of verifiable checks of documents, it is difficult to facilitate travel within Asean.
Singapore supports the UK as Asean's dialogue partner
Vivian also mentioned that the meeting touched on the United Kingdom's involvement as Asean's dialogue partner.
He said that UK has been a major player contributor, investor, trader, and strategic partner with Asean.
"So in that sense, admitting them as a dialogue partner was an obvious thing to do and something which Singapore clearly supported," he said.
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Top image via Ministry of Foreign Affairs