Jakarta: According to Indonesia's foreign minister, the country has been secretly interacting with important conflict actors in Myanmar for months as well as its neighbours India, Thailand, and China in an effort to jump-start a peace process as violence increases.

Retno Marsudi stated earlier that Indonesia, as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), had started a quiet effort to resolve the crisis, with its diplomats holding more than 60 "engagements" with all parties concerned.

According to her, these included a pro-democracy shadow government, the junta, and ethnic minority armies. Retno stressed the importance of earning everyone's trust during a press conference afterward.

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According to her, Indonesia uses non-megaphone diplomacy to establish trust with all parties and encourage communication."Quiet diplomacy does not imply that we took no action. In actuality, Indonesia has accomplished a lot over the last four months.

The action by Indonesia is the first significant attempt to bring together all the important parties involved in the conflict in Myanmar and to push for the implementation of a peace "consensus" that its top general reached with the bloc two years ago.

Retno said, "We tried to be as inclusive as we could. "Indonesia continues to try to play a bridging role to narrow a wide and acute gap between the stakeholders."

Requests for comment from the two armed ethnic groups and the Myanmar junta went unanswered. According to a NUG spokesperson, the group is working with the ASEAN chair while "trying for a peace dialogue."

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An official from Indonesia's foreign ministry confirmed that ASEAN members supported the initiative to involve all stakeholders.

Since the military overthrew the government in a coup in 2021 and began a brutal crackdown on opponents, some of whom fled abroad to found the National Unity Government (NUG), Myanmar has been plagued by violence and economic instability.

Others joined the nation's armed resistance organisations, which are fighting the junta alongside the NUG and some of the ethnic minority armies.

Due to the junta's persistent attacks on critics and refusal to put the peace consensus into action, ASEAN leaders have been growing impatient with it. The junta has been prohibited by the bloc from attending its high-level meetings since late 2021 until progress is shown. Retno discussed whether or not Myanmar's generals would once more be excluded from the ASEAN leaders summit the following week.

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She added that Indonesia had already hosted 195 ASEAN gatherings, the majority of which were dominated by worries about the conflict in Myanmar and regional tensions between rival superpowers China and the United States.

Government and think-tank representatives from Myanmar and its neighbours, including India and China, met in New Delhi late last month as part of a covert effort to resolve the Myanmar crisis, in addition to Indonesia's understated diplomacy