Asean foreign ministers have discussed the violent and dangerous situation in western Myanmar, but unfortunately failed to come up with a substantive solution. Credit is due to Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's political leader and foreign minister, for holding the "retreat" in Yangon on Monday. Diplomats called it a transparent and honest briefing.
Before Monday, Myanmar's elected, popular leader had been silent on the Rohingya issue for so long that there were even calls to revoke her Nobel Peace Prize. But the latest crackdown on the Rohingya has triggered a new round of grave concern by some Asean members, particularly Malaysia which initiated the meeting.
Overall, Ms Suu Kyi's one-day closed-door retreat for the 10 members of Asean, with all except Vietnam, Cambodia and Brunei represented by their foreign ministers, was a welcome move. The Rohingya issue is one of the most divisive and long-standing on the current Asean agenda. For years, Myanmar leaders including Ms Suu Kyi have refused to discuss this problem, even at the humanitarian level. So Monday's meeting has put the issue in the spotlight, where it belongs.
Credit is also due to Malaysia, particularly Foreign Minister Anifah Aman. For years, Myanmar's neighbours have been the knock-on victims of vicious mistreatment of the Rohingya people by policies and prejudice in Nay Pyi Taw. Kuala Lumpur in particular has accepted and mostly resettled around 56,000 displaced Rohingya. They are effectively refugees who managed to make it to Malaysia by boat or on foot. Other countries feeling the negative effect of Myanmar's heavy-handed operations against the ethnic minority are Thailand and Indonesia.
Ms Suu Kyi has faced massive and worldwide criticism over violence against the Rohingya. Myanmar's bloody crackdowns on the Muslim Rohingya minority have been called "ethnic cleansing" or "genocide", especially after recent offensives by the army and the police. Entire villages have been razed and 27,000 new Rohingya refugees have been forced to flee.
By calling a meeting, and presenting a very limited plan of action, Ms Suu Kyi obviously hopes to forestall, and possibly reverse, the harshest criticism. It is encouraging that she has finally agreed to "allow" aid to the Rohingya areas that her government should have been providing for years. And it is a small move forward that a few journalists will be allowed to see some parts of Rakhine state. That breaks a long period where no outsiders were allowed to enter the area of reported atrocities.
Neither Myanmar nor Asean has a real plan to address the human rights problems wracking the western part of the country. It is difficult to credit an agreement that merely allows humanitarian aid. Everywhere but in Myanmar, such aid would be automatic and welcome. For the Rohingya, it will be limited in time and scope, and under government supervision which everyone involved fears will be harsh and restrictive.
The foreign ministers' meeting, in short, succeeded in addressing the problem, and moving it into the open. At home, Ms Suu Kyi will suffer domestic attacks by elitist and racist hard-liners, but it left the overall problem unsolved and largely unaddressed. Officially, Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be unwanted foreigners, and will not grant them any legal status. Almost all the rest of the world disagrees.
The fruit of Monday's retreat is welcome, even though it is limited. The Myanmar army, convinced it is fighting a terrorist insurgency, will continue anti-Rohingya operations. Outsiders will have to depend on briefings from Nay Pyi Taw and satellite photos.
Asean must strive to bring the issue under its purview. The grouping must capitalise on the small step it achieved on Monday and build on that to push for more concrete solutions designed to heal the past, to prevent future bloody crackdowns in Rakhine state and provide a sustainable future for the beleaguered Roingya people.