ASEAN urged to fortify regional solidarity<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Southeast Asian nations must face economic
\ncrisis, the possible return of choking haze and Cambodia's
\npolitical turmoil together, ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo
\nSeverino said yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"Some in ASEAN seem to pay mere lip service to the ideal of
\nregional solidarity and cooperation,\" the Association of Asian
\nNations (ASEAN) secretary-general said.<\/p>\n
\"Now the financial crisis, the haze problem and Cambodian
\nquestion have brought home to all of us the need to forge a
\nstronger sense of unity in ASEAN if our most serious problems are
\nto be addressed,\" he told a forum on security issues.<\/p>\n
Severino said the regional turbulence was an \"emerging irony\"
\nin ASEAN as \"the very integration envisioned and long regarded as
\na source of strength can be a point of weakness.\"<\/p>\n
But ASEAN's reaction was an even stronger commitment to
\neconomic openness, instead of hesitating and slowing down its
\neconomic integration, he said.<\/p>\n
\"ASEAN members must now work together more closely than even
\nbefore and bind their economies more tightly together, if they
\nare to manage the affairs of an increasingly integrated regional
\neconomy,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Severino said ASEAN had approached the problem of
\nhaze, the choking clouds of smog which enveloped much of the
\nregion last year, by frequent consultations and cooperative
\nmeasures.<\/p>\n
On Cambodia, he said ASEAN was compelled to get involved \"not
\nout of a desire to interfere in a neighbor's internal affairs but
\nbecause of the regional repercussions of developments in that
\nneighbor.\"<\/p>\n
Cambodia was thrown into turmoil when Second Prime Minister
\nHun Sen overthrew his co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh last
\nyear. Elections are due in the country in July.<\/p>\n
\"ASEAN has to make sure that no unstable element intrudes into
\nits midst, that destabilizing forces such as refugee flows do not
\nshake the rest of the region and that no change in leadership or
\nform of governance by violent means is encouraged,\" Severino
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
\nPhilippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the
\nregional crises had \"helped minimize differences\" among ASEAN
\nmembers and called for further economic cooperation.<\/p>\n
\"We must (also) be mindful of the limits of ASEAN action and
\nnot expect more of it than it is ready and equipped for. In
\nparticular, we must recognize that we are but small economies and
\nonly a fifth of our trade is with each other,\" he told the forum.<\/p>\n
Abdullah also cautioned that economic plans in ASEAN countries
\nshould not \"threaten the fundamental security and well-being of
\nour societies.\"<\/p>\n
He argued that foreign prescriptions for recovery were \"often
\nladen with the logic of pure economics and pure economics can be
\nas destructive as pure politics.\"<\/p>\n
Thailand's deputy foreign affairs minister Sukhumbhand
\nParibatra urged political reforms so ASEAN members could adjust
\n\"newly emerging societal demands and ensure politically
\nsustainable economic growth.\"<\/p>",
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