Trade unions, civil society organisations, journalists, and youth groups on 18 and 19 November 2025 gathered in Jakarta for a regional public forum and a public picket. Both actions called for the removal of the Myanmar military junta from any form of regional legitimacy and urged Southeast Asian governments to support the Myanmar people.

The Joint Public Forum, held at Novotel Cikini, was organised by BWI, Amnesty International Indonesia, YLBHI, Kontras, ITUC Asia Pacific, PSI APRO, and IFJ APRO, in collaboration with partner organisations from across the region. More than ninety participants joined onsite and online. Speakers described the worsening situation in Myanmar, including daily airstrikes, mass displacement, and the junta’s planned December 2025 election. They raised concerns about military-created parallel unions designed to create confusion and weaken international pressure.

On 19 November, a picket rally took place outside the Le Meridien Hotel, where SEANF was holding its General Assembly. Workers, human rights activists, and journalists participated. Parulian, General Secretary of HUKATAN, captured the sentiment of the rally by saying: “We stand here because silence is already a form of complicity. If ASEAN refuses to act, then workers will act. We will not allow the junta to find legitimacy in Jakarta or anywhere in Southeast Asia.”. Participants denounced the junta’s sham and illegal election in December 2025 and demanded the removal of MNHRC from SEANF. Protesters urged Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines to ensure that no regional platform provides recognition to the junta.

At the end of the rally, commissioners from Komnas HAM stepped outside the SEANF venue to meet the protestors. They received the ASEAN Joint Statement of Trade Unions and Civil Society Organisations, which calls for the removal of MNHRC from SEANF, the full implementation of ILO Article 33, and stronger cooperation between regional human rights institutions and labor movements. Participants stated that SEANF must stop postponing decisions due to its requirement for consensus on procedural revisions. They urged SEANF to expel MNHRC in the same manner that GANHRI and APF have already done. As an alternative and stronger recommendation, they proposed abandoning the current SEANF structure altogether and creating a new body with improved charters and rules of procedure that can act decisively on human rights crises such as Myanmar.

A notable contribution to the forum came from former Komnas HAM Chair and SAC-M co-founder Marzuki Darusman. He warned that Indonesia can either move ASEAN forward or keep it trapped in indecision. He said: “Indonesia speaks with two voices on Myanmar, one isolating the junta, the other welcoming it. This dualism is fatal. As long as one hand rejects the junta while another legitimises it, ASEAN will never move, and the killings will continue.” According to him, the future of Myanmar and the credibility of ASEAN bodies rely on Indonesia speaking firmly with one voice that supports democracy and rejects military rule.

For participants, the two days in Jakarta made one thing clear: cutting impunity, welfare, money, and legitimacy is necessary to support the people of Myanmar and build a principled regional response.