Just seven days after Cambodia assumed its chairmanship of ASEAN, Cambodia is flattered by attacks from Singaporean former diplomats, who are notorious in backstabbing Cambodia. Singaporean government always say that they cannot cover their mouths but these notorious former diplomats are often invited to conduct internal seminars to propagate Cambodia as ASEAN’s bad boy and destroyer of ASEAN in 2012, and beyond.

The latest attack was reported by Kyodo News entitled “HE’s meeting with Myanmar junta chief reveals growing split within ASEAN”.

This is ridiculous, insane and an injustice that Cambodia is accountable for ASEAN’s split.

These Singaporean former diplomats always act as if they are the smartest race in Southeast Asia. They are the smartest breed that cannot understand the complexities of issues, and they are good at putting all the blame on poorer and weaker countries. They are the smartest in framing Cambodia as the single culprit for the non-consensus of the Joint Communique in 2012 regarding the century-old South China Sea territorial disputes.

Their smartest brains can simplify the complexities of negotiation that no one can emulate them.

Their simple conclusion is that Cambodia was the only country to blame. And now, Cambodia is responsible again for dividing ASEAN. What is wrong with them?

They despise poorer nations and seek to exclude the latter from their rank and exclusive club. They promote public agenda on expelling Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar from ASEAN, and they block Timor-Leste from entering ASEAN. Poor countries should not be part of their family.

ASEAN’s divide is longstanding, and Cambodia is trying very hard to keep the family at ten. But surely these notorious Singaporean former diplomats don’t want ASEAN 10. They want ASEAN-7.

These Singaporean former diplomats forget that Indonesia and Malaysia want to expel Singapore from ASEAN too.

ASEAN has been divided on many issues, not just recently because of Cambodia’s assumption of chairmanship.

On Myanmar’s credential issues at the United Nations, ASEAN did not have consensus on Myanmar’s representation. The same issue lingers on. At the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summit, there was no consensus about Myanmar’s representation. At the ASEAN-China Special Foreign Ministers Meeting in Chongqing last year, the Joint Statement between all eleven foreign ministers cannot be issued because some maritime ASEAN member states were reluctant to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the DOC, and were not satisfied with the progress of the COC. They were against any positive annotation on development in the South China Sea and ASEAN-China’s joint efforts on that matter. Celebrating DOC means giving credit to Cambodia as DOC was signed in Cambodia, and they will do everything to stop that because they consider Cambodia as China’s puppet.

At the Special ASEAN-China Summit last year, ASEAN did not have consensus on Myanmar’s representation, and China could not invite Myanmar’s political representative to the meeting. For the upcoming ASEAN-US Summit, ASEAN is split again as the US only wants to invite ASEAN-9, and some member states, including Cambodia, cannot accept ASEAN-9 format to become a fait-accompli.

This is what the Singaporean former diplomats want. The fait-accompli of ASEAN-9 and then they legitimise their decision to expel Myanmar and later on Cambodia and Laos will be their prime targets.

The split is longstanding, and how can they put all the blame on Cambodia?

In Khmer we say that they are the wolves that wear sheep skin. They look very kind at the front, but they are the main backstabbers. They talk very nice but they are the main operators of sophisticated media attack. They often say that they are for an inclusive ASEAN, but they are the most arrogant and discriminatory against new member states. They always seek to classify and categorize ASEAN member states. One famous Thai regional analyst said that, Singapore’s view does not represent the whole ASEAN view.

These notorious Singaporean former diplomats cannot congratulate the initial step that Cambodia has made to pave more ways for positive development in Myanmar. Their mission is to attack Cambodia, and undermine any success of Cambodia’s chairmanship. There is no way that Cambodia can navigate smoothly with these former Singaporean diplomats on mission to shoot down any Cambodia’s success.

On top of these notorious Singaporean former diplomats, the forceful behavior of the media in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are not helpful either. They are pushing for more imaginary divide of ASEAN in two aspects. One is the religious divide, between Muslim member states and Buddhist member states. And another one is the divide between maritime states and continental states.

Their non-reconciliatory tones are in fact aiming to push for ASEAN divide instead of unity, and these countries’ media also seek to expel Myanmar from ASEAN too. This is not ASEAN unity and centrality that these notorious former diplomats, groups of media and pundits are claiming that they are championing.

They are in fact the terminators of ASEAN-10.

If in the future, ASEAN is less than 10, then they can put their names in the hall of fame of diminishing ASEAN.

By their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Cambodia will be accused again for 1) failing to reach consensus on Myanmar; 2) failing to reach consensus on the South China Sea; 3) Cambodia is the puppet of China. Therefore, Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship is a failure. They will hire academics and media to detail every alleged Cambodia’s faux-pas and at the end of the year, they will crystalize another “Phnom Penh fiasco” like they did in 2012.

In ASEAN, there are too many problems. There are too many deadlocks. No one can solve them overnight. The previous chairmanships and the next chairmanships are the same. No one can do that. But why these notorious former diplomats hate Cambodia so much?

What is it that they want from Cambodia? They act like they are the smartest in demanding all the results and faults from Cambodia in just seven days. Why didn’t they demand the same for other chairs including themselves?

What are the breakthroughs that they have been contributed for the centuries-old crisis? They are the Cambodia haters, and there is no way that Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship would be smooth, so long as their mouths are not shut.

And they will never shut their mouth. They will celebrate their mission accomplished when ASEAN falls into pieces.

Last year April, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno made a covert attempt to visit Myanmar, but ended up meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna at Bangkok airport with the support of Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai. She could not even reach Myanmar’s border. She called for early re-election as a means for early return to democracy, but her solution was slammed by the anti-coup group stating that electoral result in November 2020 must be respected. Indonesia had to backtrack its position on that matter.

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Myanmar military was not helpful either. Just days after Prime Minister HE’s visit, airstrikes were conducted, trial against Aung San Suu Kyi was held, undermining the ceasefire process, and trust and confidence on Myanmar military’s commitment to the five-point consensus.

No one has the best formula in handling Myanmar issues. One option is to stick to values and preconditions without engagement. Another option is to adopt pragmatic engagement without preconditions. Both options are unsuccessful, considering Indonesia, Brunei and Cambodia’s past lessons.