ASEAN's nonintervention policy put to the test<\/p>\n
By Beth Duff-Brown<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The longstanding pledge by Southeast Asian
\nnations to avoid interfering in each other's business was put to
\nthe test recently when U.S. Vice President Al Gore came to town
\nand stepped into Malaysia's internal affairs.<\/p>\n
In front of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, host to a Asia-
\nPacific trade summit last month, Gore praised \"the brave people
\nof Malaysia\" for their fledgling democratic reform movement, one
\nthat calls for Mahathir's political demise.<\/p>\n
Most of the members of the Association of Southeast Asian
\nNations came to Malaysia's defense, saying they found it
\nunspeakably rude that America's No. 2 leader would come to
\nMalaysia and spout off about Western-style democracy.<\/p>\n
Even Thailand, the ASEAN member leading the call for more
\ncross-border criticism within the nine-nation group, chastised
\nthe U.S. interference into Malaysian affairs.<\/p>\n
\"You have to be very, very careful toward each other's
\nfeelings,\" Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuan said.<\/p>\n
When ASEAN leaders meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, for their annual
\ntwo-day summit starting Dec. 15, being very careful of one
\nanother's feelings may be difficult. Relations within the
\norganization, founded in 1967 to prevent the spread of war in the
\nregion, have been severely strained this past year.<\/p>\n
Bickering between Malaysia and Singapore escalated to fevered
\nthreats and accusations over border controls, air space and water
\nrights until Mahathir called a truce.<\/p>\n
The Philippine and Indonesian presidents took the
\nunprecedented step of publicly reprimanding Mahathir for the
\nsacking and jailing of his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n
Next week, the Philippines will take issue with China, who is
\nsending Vice President Hu Jintao to observe the summit. The
\nPhilippines is expected to urge ASEAN to issue a statement on the
\nconflicting claims over the mineral-rich atolls and reefs that
\nstraddle vital sea lanes in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n
Then there's Myanmar, also known as Burma, the newest ASEAN
\nmember. The group has been criticized for accepting the military-
\nruled country because of its dreadful human rights record, making
\ndiplomats more cautious about the admission of Cambodia.<\/p>\n
ASEAN currently comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
\nPhilippines, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. When
\nestablished, its goal was to bring all 10 Southeast Asian nations
\ninto the ASEAN brotherhood; Cambodia's membership would fulfill
\nthat pledge.<\/p>\n
Cambodia was on the verge of joining ASEAN last year when
\nPrime Minister Hun Sen toppled his co-prime minister, Prince
\nNorodom Ranariddh, in a violent coup.<\/p>\n
Now that a coalition government is in place in Phnom Penh, Hun
\nSen has made entry into ASEAN a priority, seeing it as key to
\nestablishing international legitimacy.<\/p>\n
But Vietnam and Malaysia are the only ASEAN nations publicly
\nbacking Cambodia's immediate entry and the membership issue is
\nlikely to dominate the summit.<\/p>\n
Non-interference into members' internal affairs could also be
\non the agenda, though an attempt by Thailand and the Philippines
\nto alter that ASEAN founding principle was rejected when foreign
\nministers met in Manila in July.<\/p>\n
Surin told his counterparts that if they do not speak more
\nfrankly about human rights and environmental issues, ASEAN would
\nlose credibility.<\/p>\n
\"Like it or not, the issues of democracy and human rights are
\nthose that we have to increasingly deal with in our engagement
\nwith the outside world,\" Surin said.<\/p>\n
Other ASEAN members strongly disagreed.<\/p>\n
Vietnam, which as summit host is supposed to mediate disputes
\nand foster consensus, opposes suggestions that the time has come
\nto comment on neighbors' internal affairs.<\/p>\n
A draft of the Hanoi Declaration obtained by The Associated
\nPress and expected to be presented next week indicates that
\nVietnam hopes to keep the non-interference issue out on the
\ngreens: \"We shall endeavor to resolve all our outstanding
\nproblems and prevent the emergence of disputes in the ASEAN way.\"<\/p>\n
Critics of ASEAN say that's the problem. The so-called \"ASEAN
\nway\" has accomplished little in the past 31 years.<\/p>\n
\"So long as you have some countries who do not recognize the
\nneed for change, it will not move forward,\" said Abdul Razak
\nBaginda, director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Center, a
\nleading Kuala Lumpur think tank.<\/p>\n
Abdul Razak notes that ASEAN was paralyzed during the
\nhazardous haze that blanketed the region last year. It stood by
\nsilently during the Cambodian coup and the deadly riots that led
\nto the end of Indonesian President Soeharto's 32-year rule in
\nMay. And it has done little to focus on the crippling Asian
\neconomic crisis, now well into its second year.<\/p>\n
\"Clearly, ASEAN is unable to come up with some very strong
\ncommon stands,\" said Abdul Razak. \"One gets the impression that
\nit's every man for himself.\"<\/p>\n
The fledgling reform movement in Malaysia is hoping ASEAN will
\nchuck the non-interference policy and use the summit to discuss
\nAnwar, who is on trial for corruption and sodomy.<\/p>\n
\"You speak about justice, universal values and human rights,
\nthat's not interference to me,\" Azizah Ismail, Anwar's wife and
\nde facto leader of his reform movement, told the Thai newspaper
\nThe Nation. \"Because those values are borderless.\"<\/p>\n
Mahathir disagrees. During a recent visit to Brunei, he said
\nSoutheast Asian leaders who begin sniping at one another would
\nundermine regional unity.<\/p>\n
\"That will be very bad, because we all have got a lot of
\nthings to criticize about each other,\" said Mahathir, prime
\nminister for 17 years and currently Asia's longest-serving
\nleader.<\/p>",
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