• Southeast Asian countries must decide whether the five-point plan “still relevant.”
• It needs to be replaced as news broke.
• At least seven children had been killed.

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said that Southeast Asian countries must decide whether the five-point plan to stop the violence brought on by the February 2021 coup is “still relevant” and whether it needs to be replaced as news broke that at least seven children had been killed in a military helicopter raid on a school.

When the military jailed elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and took control, Myanmar was thrown into crisis. It has repressed any kind of opposition harshly, branding as “terrorists” civilian and ethnic armed opposition organizations, and in July, it executed four political detainees.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and army chief Min Aung Hlaing negotiated a five-point plan in April 2021 that was meant to put an end to the bloodshed, but the generals disregarded it.

In less than two months, the ASEAN leaders will convene, and Saifuddin said they must “seriously assess” if the plan is “still relevant” or whether “it could be replaced with something better.”

One of ASEAN’s ten members, Myanmar, has been under pressure from the international community to take the initiative in diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict.

We must pose that challenging topic and have an answer by the time we meet in November, he insisted.

Attack at a school

The ASEAN agreement did not stop the carnage, and according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has been monitoring the crackdown, the military has killed approximately 2,300 people since the coup.

A school inside a monastery complex in the northern central Sagaing district was hit by army helicopters on Friday, resulting in at least 13 fatalities, including seven children.

According to school administrator Mar Mar, “they kept shooting into the compound from the air for an hour.” “They did not pause for even a minute. At that time, our only option was to sing Buddhist mantras.

The Generals were accused of carrying out “targeted attacks” on schools, according to the National Unity Government (NUG), which is made up of elected politicians who were removed from office by the military.

The NUG also demanded the release of 20 students and teachers who it claimed had been detained as a result of the airstrikes.