Crisis blocking the road to ASEAN democracy<\/p>\n
An economic crisis concentrates Asian minds powerfully on the
\nother issues which are usually brushed aside. On Tuesday in
\nManila, the nine-member ASEAN grouping joined with its Western
\npartners to set up a forum on the social costs of economic
\nfailure. Thailand, which proposed the new body, said that \"social
\nunrest is now the most real threat to security in Asia\". Such
\nlanguage would have been inconceivable a year ago.<\/p>\n
The Thai foreign minister had already led the way when the
\nASEAN meeting gathered last Friday, urging his colleagues to
\nspeak more frankly about democracy, deprivation and the
\nenvironment. He was backed by his host: a stronger ASEAN, the
\nPhilippines foreign secretary said, had to speak out on \"thorny
\nissues\".<\/p>\n
Other ASEAN countries -- particularly Singapore which takes
\nover the chairmanship -- are more reluctant. Malaysia continues
\nto insist on the \"time-honored principle\" of non-interference.
\nThe result was a cautious agreement to allow \"enhanced
\ninteraction\" to discuss issues within member states which had
\nexternal implications. In reality unrest anywhere in the region
\ncan quickly impact elsewhere, as the news from Yangon and Phnom
\nPenh underlined Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In Cambodia international pressure up till now for free and
\nfair elections has been directed towards the ruling regime of
\nPrime Minister Hun Sen -- fairly enough in view of his dubious
\nrecord. The latest development in which the royalist Fucinpec is
\ncrying foul presents a more complex situation. The UN observers
\nmay have been too keen before the elections to give Hun Sen a
\nclean bill of health, but the actual elections do appear to have
\npassed relatively smoothly. Unless hard evidence of fraud can be
\nproduced, the result must stand. The Cambodian opposition should
\nbe reminded of the disasters which have occurred elsewhere when
\none party rejected a popular vote. Boycotting the assembly would
\nonly give Hun Sen the pretext to establish what really would
\namount to one-party rule.<\/p>\n
ASEAN has said it is watching the political process in
\nCambodia very carefully but it still dodges the bigger problem of
\nMyanmar (Burma), which it admitted to membership last year. Only
\nthe non-ASEAN nations of Japan and South Korea joined Tuesday's
\ncall for the junta to stop blockading Aung San Suu Kyi -- now
\nimmobilized for the fifth day in her car. Already a heroic
\nfighter for the social justice which ASEAN is beginning to
\nacknowledge, she deserves much better from her fellow-Asians.<\/p>\n
-- Guardian News Service<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/crisis-blocking-the-road-to-asean-democracy-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }