Foreign ministers from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are set to hold a special meeting today, Tuesday, to discuss the continuing crisis in Myanmar.
The ministers hope to work together under the regional umbrella group ASEAN to convince Myanmar's military to halt its "appalling" treatment of peaceful demonstrators. Myanmar is a member of ASEAN.
Protests in Myanmar continued Tuesday despite a violent clash at the weekend that resulted in the deaths of 18 demonstrators. Local media reports said that most of the shops and malls in the country's major cities have closed down because of the continued unrest.
Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said that he expects his counterparts in the ASEAN to back his plan of convincing Myanmar's military to open discussions. Balakrishnan said that he plans to have the ASEAN broker a dialogue between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government.
"There is the political leadership...and there is the military leadership, on the other hand. They need to talk, and we need to help bring them together," Balakrishnan said.
The virtual meeting will be attended by the foreign ministers of the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Cambodia.
The ASEAN's effort to broker negotiations has been met with criticism by some anti-coup movements in Myanmar. The groups, which include some ousted lawmakers, said that the military was nothing more than a "terrorist" organization.
Some members of the ASEAN youth programs in Myanmar said that the trading bloc should be dealing with members of Suu Kyi's government and not with the military-led regime.
"ASEAN must understand that the coup or the re-election promised by the military junta is utterly unacceptable to the people of Myanmar," the group said.
Sunday's protest was the bloodiest since the military launched its coup against the elected government just a month ago. Military officers reportedly switched to live ammunition at the weekend. The deaths of several protesters sparked anger and fueled more demonstrations across the nation.
Monday's protests were less violent as police reverted to using rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas to disperse protesters. In an interview later that day, junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said that they will be working to apprehend the leaders of the protests and take immediate action against them.