Cooperation elusive on SE Asia security<\/p>\n
Dan Eaton, Reuters\/Jakarta\/Bangkok<\/p>\n
Rivalry and vastly different levels of development in Southeast
\nAsia are frustrating cooperation in combatting militants and a
\nhost of other security threats.<\/p>\n
Some regional nations trust their neighbors less than they do
\noutside powers, and are more comfortable cooperating with the
\nUnited States, despite its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast
\nAsian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Jakarta next week will discuss
\nan Indonesian initiative to form a security community, which
\nincludes a regional peacekeeping force, more cooperation on
\nmaritime threats and creating more open societies.<\/p>\n
That meeting comes ahead of annual security talks on July 2
\nwith ASEAN's 13 dialog partners, including the United States,
\nAustralia and the European Union.<\/p>\n
But it is unlikely to see major progress, given the mistrust
\nsewn by years of rivalry within ASEAN involving at least 13
\noverlapping maritime zones and dozens of land border disputes.<\/p>\n
Singapore and its close ally the United States have recently
\nvoiced alarm at the risk of pirates linked to terror groups
\nattacking tankers or other vessels in the Strait of Malacca
\ndividing Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.<\/p>\n
They have called for tougher security and pledged to work to
\nprotect the strait, through which more than a quarter of world
\ntrade and half its oil passes.<\/p>\n
And despite earlier vocal expressions of concern Washington
\nmight be seeking to have its marines patrol the vital sea lane,
\nMalaysia, following a visit this week by U.S. pacific command
\nchief Admiral Thomas Fargo, has now pledged to work with
\nWashington through sharing intelligence and joint exercises.<\/p>\n
Washington also plans to hold talks with other Asian nations
\non what it calls its "Regional Maritime Security Initiative", an
\nas yet ill-defined plan to boost cooperation.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, meanwhile, is left wondering about the fate of its
\nintra-regional cooperation initiative, dubbed the "ASEAN Security
\nCommunity".<\/p>\n
"Our recent discussions on this issue prove to us that we need
\nto have regional capacity in this area, because in the absence of
\nregional thought on the subject we feel that other parties will
\nbring a solution to us," said Indonesian foreign ministry
\nspokesman Marty Natalegawa.<\/p>\n
"This vacuum of ideas is not useful. We would be in a better
\nstate if we were to think of these things in a more deliberate
\nmanner, in a more rational manner," he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's push for a regional peacekeeping capacity has also
\nmet with resistance from countries who fear such a development
\nopens the door to ASEAN abandoning its traditional policy of non-
\ninterference in members' domestic affairs.<\/p>\n
A draft plan of action to be approved by ministers at the
\nJakarta meeting next week contains a watered-down version of
\nIndonesia's original proposal. It refers only to cooperation
\nbetween various peacekeeping centers in member countries.<\/p>\n
A draft joint communique makes no mention of it at all.<\/p>\n
"The idea of a regional peace keeping force is probably
\npremature at this stage," Thai foreign ministry spokesman Sihasak
\nPhuanketkeow told Reuters.<\/p>\n
"Maybe we should be thinking in terms of some kind of
\narrangement among ASEAN countries if this peace-keeping is
\nnecessary."<\/p>\n
Another Southeast Asian official, who declined to be
\nidentified, said the peacekeeping proposal would probably be
\nquietly dropped.<\/p>\n
He said some ASEAN nations, which signed on to the broad
\nconcept of building a security community by 2020 at a meeting in
\nBali last year, also disagreed with other Indonesian proposals,
\nincluding the promotion of human rights and democracy.<\/p>\n
"Some of them have problems mentioning border disputes and
\nsome of them have problems dealing with specific references to a
\nregional human rights mechanism," the official said.<\/p>\n
"Some of them are also allergic to the concept of good
\ngovernance because they say that good governance is a Western
\nconcept which is not applicable to ASEAN."<\/p>\n
The nations of ASEAN are disparate and include military-run
\nMyanmar, communist Vietnam and Laos, absolute monarchy Brunei,
\nThailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and
\nwealthy Singapore.<\/p>\n
Recent incidents in Southern Thailand, where more than 100
\nalleged separatist militants have been killed by security forces,
\nand a fresh bout of sectarian violence in Indonesia's Moluccas
\nislands, show the region's vulnerability to conflict.<\/p>",
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