Yudhoyono to Visit Myanmar for Asean Summit This Weekend

Jakarta Globe, May 09, 2014

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will attend two regional
summits being held in Myanmar’s capital. (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Jakarta. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono will visit Myanmar from Saturday to Monday for two regional multilateral summits.

The Asean Summit in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital, is an annual meeting attended by leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to discuss economic and social development, as well as current issues.

Discussions at the meeting will mostly focus on the Asean community, said Teuku Faizasyah, the presidential spokesman for international affairs.

“The summit is about the countries’ preparation in welcoming the Asean Community, their future together, and the relationship between each other and also with other non-Asean countries. The rest are still unspecified,” he told the Jakarta Globe on Friday.

Faizasyah said that there might be no talk about Rohingya refugees at the summit. Indonesia has taken in Rohingya, who are Muslim and are escaping persecution from Myanmar’s Buddhist-majority population.

“For Rohingya, it’s usually discussed during bilateral meetings. [The president] has met the Myanmar president and talked about it in many occasions before. But for this visit, I doubt there will be time for a bilateral meeting with him,” he said.

Yudhoyono will also be attending the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Phillipines East Asean Growth Area) Summit, which is an annual meeting similar to the Asean Summit but is only attended by the four countries.

Still, the president is leaving Indonesia at the time when the country is in the midst of elections. The final count from the April 9 legislative election is set to be released on Friday, ahead of the July 9 presidential vote.

Faizasyah is confident that it’s safe for the president to leave the country at this time and that his leave wouldn’t affect domestic affairs.