PHNOM PENH: Malaysia is set to lead a push for tougher action on Myanmar when a regional bloc of foreign ministers meet this week, as anger mounts at junta for stonewalling crisis resolution efforts.

Ten country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which has spearheaded so far fruitless diplomatic efforts to restore peace last week condemned junta’s execution of four prisoners.

Ministers meeting in Phnom Penh from Wednesday are expected to lament lack of progress on ASEAN’s “five-point consensus” plan, agreed to in April last year, which called for an immediate end to violence and dialogue between junta and coup opponents.

As well as voicing “deep concern” about recent developments and calling for restraint, ministers will also demand “concrete actions to effectively and fully implement Five-Point Consensus,” according to a draft communique obtained by AFP. After more than a year of no progress on plan, Malaysia will present a framework for its implementation, even as critics deride ASEAN as a toothless talking shop. “Key element of framework is there must be an end-game. You have to have an end-game. What is end-game of five-point consensus?” Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan characterised executions as a “grave setback” to ASEAN’s efforts to resolve crisis, while Thailand’s foreign ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said move “aggravates vexing problems of Myanmar.”

“Political appointees of administration, especially military administration are not welcome,” Philippines’ Assistant Foreign Secretary for ASEAN Affairs Daniel Espiritu said.

Myanmar’s top diplomat, Wunna Maung Lwin has not been invited to Phnom Penh and was also left out of a foreign ministers’ retreat in February, while junta leader Min Aung Hlaing was snubbed at a leaders’ summit last year.

“Even North Korea is welcome at this forum but Myanmar junta isn’t, it has to be recognised just how isolated Myanmar is, even in its neighbourhood,” said Aaron Connelly, a Southeast Asia specialist at International Institute for Strategic Studies.–Agencies