"BANDUNG, Indonesia: With regional power comes regional responsibilities - as Indonesia is finding out. The world’s fourth most populous nation aspires to be a “great regional power” by 2030, playing a stabilising role in Southeast Asia. It is getting an early taste of what that entails. As the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia has been called upon by international bodies, including the United Nations, to show leadership in resolving one of the region’s bloodiest conflict: Myanmar’s civil war. And progress has been slow. As a scholar of international relations and Indonesian foreign policy, I see the nation’s handling of the Myanmar crisis as an early test of how Indonesia could fare as the region’s great power. THE LIMITS OF “QUIET DIPLOMACY” The civil war between the military and the anti-military groups in Myanmar has claimed thousands of lives. It followed a 2021 coup that returned the country to military rule, with the junta embarking on a brutal crackdown of the opposition. Since then, the ruling generals have encountered fierce resistance from armed groups. In April 2021, a few months into the conflict, ASEAN leaders meeting in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta agreed to a Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar, calling for an immediate ceasefire, constructive dialogue between all parties, a special envoy to help mediate the conflict, humanitarian assistance from ASEAN and a delegation visit to Myanmar to facilitate the peace process. More than two years on, the first point of the Five-Point Consensus has still not been implemented, and chances of a ceasefire look remote under the current level of fighting. In May, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, responding to criticism over perceived inaction over the crisis, said Indonesia was relying on “quiet diplomacy”. Such a policy forms part of Indonesia’s attempts to balance the nonintervention principal of ASEAN - by which meddling in the domestic affairs of neighbouring states is unacceptable - with the need to address the internal crisis in Myanmar. But efforts to influence the behaviour of another state through discreet negotiations or actions have clearly not yet succeeded. It doesn’t bode well for Indonesia’s desire to be a stabilising factor in the region. In theory, Indonesia should be well placed to assume regional leadership. It is a member of the Group of Twenty (G20) gathering of richest nations and is poised to have the world’s fourth-largest economy within two decades. Its military is ranked the most powerful in the region. Added to this economic and military might is a willingness to assume the role of regional leader. Yet Indonesia’s calls for a ceasefire in Myanmar have fallen on deaf ears, in part because the warring parties know Indonesia is unwilling to punish Myanmar for failing to end the fighting. Any such punitive action would be deemed unacceptable under the ASEAN nonintervention principle..."