ASEAN foreign ministers look to touch people<\/p>\n
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (JP): Homecomings always spark introspection.
\nTherefore, when the ASEAN ministers gather here on Monday at the
\ngrouping's birthplace, they must navigate between the high
\npolitical debates of nonintervention and labor to commit to
\noutreach programs which touch its people, forging them as a true
\nconcert of nations.<\/p>\n
The annual foreign ministers two-day meeting, held this year
\nat the birthplace of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN), looks set to resume the debate over the maturity of the
\n33-year-old grouping to further convert its enshrined principle
\nof nonintervention.<\/p>\n
With several states, Indonesia being the latest convert, swept
\nby the wave of democratization and open societies, not to mention
\nthe greater influence of nonstate actors, officials must show it
\nis making progress in accommodating these changes but without
\nupsetting the carefully built political cohesion.<\/p>\n
Reeling from the effects of a debilitating economic crisis,
\nASEAN officials now also recognize that they must look within to
\nrecapture their dented self-esteem by forging a real ASEAN
\nidentity among its people.<\/p>\n
Greater people-to-people focus is set to be the theme of this
\nyear's ASEAN retreat, a new vehicle for frank dialog among the 10
\nforeign ministers of the grouping -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
\nLaos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
\nVietnam.<\/p>\n
The two-day meeting from Monday precedes ASEAN talks through
\nto July 29 with China, Japan and South Korea and wider bilateral
\nand regional security discussions bringing in the United States,
\nRussia and the European Union among others.<\/p>\n
North Korea will join for the first time as a member of the
\nASEAN Regional Forum, meaning the consultative security grouping
\nwill represent 37 countries.<\/p>\n
Indonesia Director General for ASEAN Cooperation Adian
\nSilalahi told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview that the
\nministers would be trying to \"look at the social aspects of
\nmatters. More people to people\".<\/p>\n
\"This includes the promotion of ASEAN,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"There's still a view that ASEAN matters are only something
\nwhich concern officials,\" he remarked, adding that \"establishing
\na regional identity in the midst of globalization is also
\nimportant\".<\/p>\n
Among the aspects of the \"comprehensive development\" agenda
\nwhich will be looked at during the retreat are outreach programs
\nwhich stress social development, human resources, public
\nparticipation, good governance and cooperation in translational
\nissues.<\/p>\n
Talks on Indonesia's ethnic conflicts, cross-border
\ntrafficking in drugs and people and security will be highlighted
\nin the annual meeting.<\/p>\n
Enhancing economic integration is another subject,
\nparticularly with the pressing need to reduce the economic
\ndisparity between member states to avoid a \"two-tiered\" ASEAN.<\/p>\n
For the past four years, ASEAN's principle of nonintervention
\nhas increasingly come under attack. In the last two years
\nThailand and the Philippines have been the strongest advocates of
\na review of this policy to allow member states to bring up
\nanother's domestic issue if it has cross-border implications.<\/p>\n
The idea of \"flexible engagement\" may again be discussed,
\nhowever, it is too much to expect a deviation from the now-
\naccepted term of \"enhanced interaction\".<\/p>\n
Indonesia, the big brother of the grouping, was expected to
\nbegin swaying slightly in support of a review. However,
\nescalating domestic problems and anxiety over possible western
\nintervention is likely to forestall such a development.<\/p>\n
In fact, Indonesia seems eager to use the gathering to enhance
\nthe nonintervention rule, thereby getting a regional consensus
\nthat no one can interfere in its domestic problems no matter how
\nbloody the situation gets.<\/p>\n
One development which could have far-reaching implications is
\nthe formal establishment of an ad hoc body called the ASEAN
\nTroika, proposed by Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai last year.<\/p>\n
This body, whose mechanism is being drafted at the current
\nmeeting, could be the middle way for ASEAN to address regional
\nissues of peace and stability stemming from a domestic situation,
\nwithout compromising the nonintervention issue.<\/p>\n
Such a troika also set a precedent when ASEAN formed one to
\naddress the Cambodia crisis in 1997.<\/p>\n
ASEAN officials told the Post that the current drafted
\nproposal, if accepted, would mean the troika could be established
\nunder consensus to address urgent political and security
\nsituations.<\/p>\n
To proponents of the nonintervention principle it would also
\nbe acceptable as the troika would not be a decision-making body
\nand would work directly under the ASEAN foreign ministers.<\/p>",
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