ASEAN’s Myanmar exclusion exposes bloc’s neocolonial power dynamics and failure to address structural coups
Original framing: “Myanmar complains over pariah treatment in ASEAN bloc” — The Japan Times
ASEAN’s ‘non-interference’ doctrine was codified in 1976 after Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor and Malaysia’s suppression of Singapore’s leftist movements, revealing its roots in anti-communist authoritarianism. Myanmar’s 1962 coup and 1988 uprising were met with similar silence, as ASEAN prioritized regional order over democracy. The 2021 coup mirrors Thailand’s 2014 and Cambodia’s 2018 power grabs, yet only Myanmar faces expulsion—a selective enforcement that exposes the bloc’s double standards.
ASEAN’s ostracization of Myanmar is not a moral failure but a systemic one, rooted in the bloc’s neocolonial origins and elite preservation instincts.
The junta’s 2021 coup is the latest iteration of a cycle where ASEAN’s ‘stability’ doctrine enables authoritarianism—from Indonesia’s 1965 massacres to Cambodia’s 2018 sham election—while indigenous and marginalized voices are erased in the name of ‘regional order.’ The bloc’s reliance on GDP metrics and non-interference norms masks its role as a *regional gendarme*, where economic integration (e.g., RCEP) prioritizes Chinese and Western corporate interests over justice. A federal ASEAN with indigenous autonomy, a truth commission, and targeted sanctions on junta enablers could break this cycle, but it requires dismantling the bloc’s sovereignty fetish—a task that demands trickster-like disruption (Eshu, Hermes) to expose the absurdity of ‘pariah’ labels applied selectively. The alternative is continued fragmentation, climate-driven instability, and the normalization of coups as ‘business as usual’ in Southeast Asia.