Australian delegation attended ASEAN police conference in Myanmar capital: junta-controlled media

Update: Myanmar Now has added comments to this story from the Australian Federal Police and the activist organisation Justice For Myanmar, which we received after initial publication. Representatives from Australia were present at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) police conference that was held in Naypyitaw on Tuesday, according to regime-controlled media. The purpose of the conference—also known by the shorthand ASEANAPOL—was to discuss cooperation in law enforcement, according to junta-run outlets, which said that police chiefs from the member states as well as delegations from the regional bloc’s dialogue partners including Russia, Australia, and Interpol were in attendance. Australia does not officially recognise the ruling military regime as Myanmar’s legitimate government. However, Australian officials have previously defended their government’s participation in ASEAN meetings attended by junta officials, claiming that only “non-political” representatives from Myanmar were present. “It is deplorable that ASEAN is continuing to deepen its complicity with the illegal Myanmar junta by allowing them to host a regional police summit,” said Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for the investigative activist organisation Justice For Myanmar (JFM). “Rather than stand with the people of Myanmar for human rights and democracy, Australia is falling in line behind ASEAN, legitimising the junta through the [Australian Federal Police’s] participating in the ASEAN summit and its ongoing intelligence sharing,” the JFM spokesperson added. Responding to queries about the Australian delegation, Australia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade referred Myanmar Now to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), who confirmed that they had sent representatives to the conference. “ASEANAPOL is law enforcement’s multi-lateral, regional forum that is focussed on combating transnational serious organised crime, which is a priority for the AFP,” they said, adding, “The AFP was represented by Assistant Commissioner Dave McLean and other AFP delegates.” Australia introduced new sanctions against Myanmar junta officials and their associates in February 2023, two years after the military seized power in Myanmar and more than a year after the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and European Union imposed sanctions in response to the coup. The ASEANAPOL website said the theme of the 42nd annual conference in Naypyitaw was “strengthening regional and global partnership to combat transnational crimes.” The junta’s home affairs minister Lt-Gen Yar Pyae attended the conference as an honorary guest and formally opened the proceedings, according to the regime-run outlet’s report. After the junta’s ties with China were strained by its failure to combat international cybercrime operations based in Myanmar’s border regions, Yar Pyae cooperated with the Chinese government to arrest Chinese nationals living in Myanmar and profiting from the scam centres, allowing relations with China to improve. However, scam centres continued operating in Myanmar’s border regions, including some near the border with Thailand, another ASEAN member, largely thanks to the protection of local Border Guard Forces (BGFs). The Myanmar regime tends to grant autonomy to the BGFs—former ethnic armed organisations incorporated into the military’s command structure—regarding security matters in their own territories. According to junta-run and Singaporean media outlets, cybercrime was among the matters listed for discussion on the ASEANAPOL agenda, along with narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, wildlife smuggling, fraudulent travel documents, and credit card fraud. However, neither outlet provided details about the member states’ interests in or policies for addressing the problem of online scam centres. Interpol chair Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, an Emirati national, and the chief of the junta’s police force Lt-Gen Win Zaw Moe also participated in the conference, according to junta-run media.

Australian delegation attended ASEAN police conference in Myanmar capital: junta-controlled media

Among the matters scheduled for discussion at the meeting was cybercrime, an ongoing problem in Myanmar due to the proliferation of online scam centres in areas under the control of junta-allied Border Guard Forces

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