Asia Times: There's more to confidence than economic growth


	July 25, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

There's more to confidence than economic growth
By Mahesh Uniyal

BANGKOK - Despite quick recovery from the 1997 financial crisis, Southeast Asia risks being sidelined from the economic mainstream, leaders of government and civil society told a meeting of regional foreign ministers on Monday.

Even as regional economic leader Singapore cautioned that Southeast Asian nations were losing business edge to their east Asian cousins, a coalition of people's groups urged members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to respect universal norms of human dignity.

''We must ask ourselves why the regional economic recovery has not translated into a restoration of international confidence in Asean,'' S Jayakumar, Foreign Minister of Singapore, told the two- day Asean Ministerial Meet (AMM). ''The region's quick recovery has vindicated our confidence in the strength of our fundamentals. While we can be proud of this, we must ask whether it has really changed perceptions of Asean?'' he said.

On the contrary, the world sees Asean as ''drifting apart'', a ''feeble voice'' and a ''sunset organization'', he stated in his blunt statement to the 10-nation club of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Jayakumar cited how in early July, an ''internationally respected'' business rating index ranked most Asean nations below China, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong, the last two were also crippled by the economic crisis that first broke in Thailand in mid-1997.

Thailand again plays host to the annual AMM, its seventh time since Asean's launch in Bangkok 33 years ago. It will be followed by a meeting of the six-year-old Asean Regional Forum (ARF) that involves consultation on Asian political and security issues with leading nations, including the United States and Japan.

The Asean foreign ministers are looking forward to the first-time participation of North Korea in the ARF and assert that the ''historic'' June summit between the two Koreas was a major achievement toward improving southeast Asia's security environment.

According to Singapore's foreign minister, the international community's confidence in Asean would not be restored until the world is ''convinced that we are individually serious about adopting the best standards of government, transparency, corporate governance and the rule of law''. ''I am not advocating that one size fits all solutions. Nevertheless, our national standards must be comparable to international best practices,'' he added.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from eight Southeast Asian nations urged Asean to ''reform itself'' in a memorandum submitted to Thailand's Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra, who assured them that their thinking on these subjects was ''not very far apart'' from Asean's.

The minister said that Thailand ''very much shares the perspective'' of the NGOs' statement and was ''working very hard to make Asean more relevant to people's needs''. However, he added that it ''may be difficult to forge a consensus [among the Asean members] on some of the points raised [by the NGOs]''.

The NGOs asked Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam to ensure freedom of expression, assembly and association to their citizens. They also urged individual governments to ''open avenues for conflict resolution within the regional formation'', in indirect reference to the internal conflicts in the Philippines and Indonesia.

The NGOs urged Asean to ''establish its authority over the internal affairs of its members, especially in matters of gross human rights violations and open ethnic, racial or religious violence.'' The "Asian People's Agenda" blamed the ''all-out war policy'' against Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines and the ''non-recognition of the people's right to self-determination'' in Indonesia's troubled provinces, for blocking a peaceful end to these conflicts.

However, speakers at the AMM opening reminded Asean of its ''time-tested fundamental principles and practices''. According to Vietnam's Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien, ''the principles of consensus and that of non-interference into each other's internal affairs have bound us together and been a source of strength''. Somsavat Lengsavad, the Foreign Minister of Laos, also emphasized the ''guiding principle of respect for sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of one another''.

These statements were seen as expressions of concern over a decision to institutionalize "preventive diplomacy" that was made at a November 1999 meeting of Asean heads of state and government in the Philippines capital Manila. This would involve setting up an "Asean troika" of nations that would ''provide our association with a quick response and effective mechanism for dealing with fast developing issues in the region'' Thailand's Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai told the meet.

Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said this would enable Asean to ''address more effectively, and to cooperate more closely, on issues affecting peace and stability in the region''. The Bangkok AMM was due to finalize the structure and working rules of the troika. However, there was agreement that this would be based on the ''bedrock'' of consensus, non-interferencee in internal affairs and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of members, an Asean delegate told Inter Press Service.

According to Asean Secretary General Rodolfo C Severino, regional security concerns center on the internal disturbances in Indonesia and the territorial disputes between China and Asean members in the South China Sea. Asserting that Asean ''fully supports the territorial integrity of Indonesia'', Severino told reporters on Sunday that the separatist movements in Indonesia's Aceh and Irian Jaya regions could not be ''equate(d) with the question of East Timor''.

''Indonesia is a very important component of Asean and any threat to the territorial integrity of Indonesia has to be taken very seriously by Asean,'' he pointed out.

Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, who joined Asean in the past few years, also reminded the gathering of the need for regional cooperation to raise living standards between these four and the relatively affluent original six Asean members. This was also one of the suggestions of Singapore for changing international perceptions of Asean. ''We must do more to help the newer Asean members catch up and integrate with the region and with the world economy,'' Jayakumar said.

(Inter Press Service)

back to the top

©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.