Myanmar’s Asean chairmanship will give up its chair in 2026 due to the domestic situation and the country’s unpreparedness, according to diplomatic sources.

The chair will be taken up by the Philippines and Myanmar will follow up the following year in 2027. Laos People’s Democratic Republic will succeed Indonesia as the next Asean chair next year. Then, it will be followed by Malaysia in 2025.

The move by Nayphidaw at this juncture indicates the current and future uncertainty inside the country. The military junta seized power in February 2021 and since then Nayphidaw has had to deal with a myriad of political, economic and social problems. Most importantly, the junta has to fight growing numbers of resistance groups including the People’s Defense Force, Ethnic Armed Organizations, and thousands of militias.

Last week, the junta extended the state of emergency for another six months. The scheduled August election was postponed without any fixed timetable. Meanwhile, the junta has also reduced Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s 33-year jail term by six years. She also was given a pardon in five of 19 charges against her.

Myanmar skipped the Asean chair back in 2006, which was substituted by Laos, due to the country’s domestic problems as the country was drafting the situation and preparing for an election.

The Asean Charter stipulates that the Chairmanship of Asean shall rotate annually, based on the alphabetical order of the English names of Member States. In principle, Brunei Darussalam would succeed Vietnam as the incoming chair in 2011. Then, Indonesia would have taken over from Cambodia in 2013. However, Jakarta asked to swap because of the tight schedules caused by the hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting that same year.

However, during the 16th ASEAN Summit in April in 2010 in Ha Noi, the Asean members agreed to grant Indonesia’s request for a swap of the chair with Brunei for 2011.

The rotating chair will take care of all the ASEAN Summit and related summits, the Asean Coordinating Council, the three Asean Community Councils, relevant Asean Sectoral Ministerial Bodies and senior officials, and the Committee of Permanent Representatives.

by Thai PBS World