ASEAN to draft first constitution<\/p>\n
Michelle Nichols, Reuters\/Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Southeast Asia's regional grouping agreed on Monday to draft its
\nfirst constitution, a document that could enshrine human rights
\nand democracy in a region where both have come under critical
\nscrutiny.<\/p>\n
Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
\nNations (ASEAN), including military-ruled Myanmar and communist
\nVietnam, agreed an Eminent Persons Group including former
\nregional leaders should decide the final shape of a charter.<\/p>\n
The declaration they signed made no mention of human rights or
\ndemocracy, but there are moves within ASEAN to write these into a
\ndocument which could be signed in 2007.<\/p>\n
\"We have not touched on anything just now, except to have an
\nadministrative meeting,\" former Malaysian deputy premier Musa
\nHitam, the Eminent Persons Group's chairman, told reporters in
\nKuala Lumpur. \"We identified our work program, that's all.\"<\/p>\n
A charter could also create provisions for suspension or even
\nexclusion of member states which breached the constitution.<\/p>\n
The lack of such a mechanism is often raised in public debate
\non how ASEAN should deal with its most awkward member, Myanmar.<\/p>\n
Myanmar has caused unease within the grouping since it joined
\nin 1997. The United States calls Myanmar an \"outpost of tyranny\"
\nand both Washington and the European Union (EU) have imposed
\nsanctions on the former Burma.<\/p>\n
In 2003, Myanmar announced a \"roadmap to democracy\", a move
\nsome ASEAN diplomats felt vindicated the group's policy of
\nconstructive engagement.<\/p>\n
But critics say the roadmap is a sham and point to the
\ncontinued detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose
\nNational League for Democracy won a landslide election victory in
\n1990, only to be denied power by the army.<\/p>\n
\"It's going to be important because it's a first step towards
\na creation of the charter,\" Indonesian spokesman Dino Patti
\nDjalal told reporters. \"Obviously what is needed is the hard work
\nthat will be done by the eminent persons,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"These are the people who will draft the charter with the hope
\nthat it will be finalized. That, we hope, will be something that
\nwill strengthen ASEAN as one community, one vision and one
\nidentity.\"<\/p>\n
Malaysian political scientist P. Ramasamy said ASEAN as a
\nwhole needed to do more on democracy. \"There is only a difference
\nin degree between Myanmar and other ASEAN countries in terms of
\nthe system,\" he said in the run-up to this week's ASEAN talks.<\/p>\n
\"Myanmar is the worst-case scenario, military junta. But in
\nMalaysia, Indonesia and others, the mere presence of elections
\ndoes not qualify these countries to be democratic in content.\"<\/p>\n
A separate summit of ASEAN non-government groups said the
\ncharter should embody \"universal values\" of regional religions
\nand cultures and ASEAN should set up a human rights commission.<\/p>\n
It also called on ASEAN to strengthen its grouping of
\nlawmakers, the ASEAN Parliamentary Caucus, and transform it
\neventually into a regional parliament.<\/p>\n
But ASEAN leaders do not want to move toward a politically
\nintegrated EU-style community, unwilling to yield on issues of
\nsovereignty in a region where overlapping sea claims have led to
\ngunboat diplomacy in recent years.<\/p>\n
However, some leaders feel a charter is needed to help speed
\neconomic integration, a goal frustrated at times by an informal
\nstructure which, in the words of the ASEAN secretary-general,
\nallows leaders to sign an agreement and then \"come back from
\ndinner and say you want to change\".<\/p>",
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