GRADUAL PROGRESS SEEN IN IMPLEMENTATION OF FIVE-POINT CONSENSUS ON MYANMAR - ANWAR

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said there has been gradual progress in the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) on Myanmar.

Anwar, as ASEAN Chair this year, said the regional bloc will continue to engage within the broad parameters collectively agreed upon by all member states under the 5PC.

“Yes, there are skirmishes, but they are certainly much smaller compared to what happened in the last few years. We have 200,000 refugees from Myanmar or within ASEAN, but over the past year, we have not encountered such problems,” he said at the Opening Dinner of the Bloomberg Business Summit, held on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Summit, here tonight.

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Anwar said one of the conditions stipulated under the consensus was that Myanmar must allow complete and total access for humanitarian assistance, irrespective of political differences or groups.

“They did agree. Our military hospital did not face or encounter problems in getting patients from all groups. To my mind, that is a major change. 

“It is not satisfactory, of course, when we talk about human rights, but still, to me, it is a gradual progress that we have seen. I am quite confident that if we continue to engage, it may help to resolve,” he said.

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-- BERNAMA