ASEAN’s four-year-old plan for peace in Myanmar is not difficult to implement and the military regime should adhere to it and allow humanitarian aid to be distributed, Malaysia’s foreign minister said on Friday.

Mohamad Hasan also said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc could not stop regime scheduled elections in Myanmar set to being on Dec. 28 but its foreign ministers want the contest to be fair and inclusive.

ASEAN agreed on a “Five-Point Consensus” peace plan with Myanmar’s regime leader Min Aung Hlaing a few months after protests against a 2021 coup morphed into a broader rebellion against military rule, but the regime has been accused of ignoring it.

“The Five-Point Consensus is not too difficult [to implement]. It would be good to have a dialogue, to allow aid to reach people and go back to dialogue with all parties,” Mohamad Hasan told reporters after a meeting with his ASEAN counterparts in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ahead of a leaders summit this weekend.

The peace plan has largely been a failure, with the regime in Naypyidaw unwilling to engage in dialogue with opponents it views as “terrorists”.

It denies Western allegations it has committed atrocities against the civilian population and insists it is committed to peace.

The regime is holding an election over three phases beginning in December while the civil war rages, but opposition parties have been decimated, and what remains of them have either been barred from taking part or are not willing to do so.

The election, which has been widely dismissed as a sham designed to extend military rule through proxies, will not be held nationwide due to the ongoing fighting.

“We cannot stop it but we want the elections to be fair, transparent, and inclusive,” added Mohamad Hasan.

“All the people must participate. We don’t want elections where only some of the people of Myanmar can participate but the rest can’t. We will discuss that and bring it to the heads of states’ summit the day after tomorrow.”

REUTERS