More popular involvement needed for ASEAN<\/p>\n
ASEAN has recently celebrated its 35th anniversary; and the
\nSecretary General ushering the regional organization into its
\nnext year is Rodolfo Severino. Having served from 1998, his task
\nwill be continued by Ong Keng Yong of Singapore. Although
\nSeverino will be leaving his post to join the academic world,
\namong other involvements, he will still continue to visit
\nJakarta. He talked to Ati Nurbaiti of The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Question: After the Sept. 11 tragedy, what do you think the
\nchanges were in ASEAN's stance toward terrorism?<\/p>\n
Answer: Southeast Asian countries have been fighting against
\nterrorism and religious extremism for a long time. In Indonesia
\nthere have been some encounters with religious extremism and the
\nstate has cracked down on religious extremism.<\/p>\n
Actually the incidence of terrorism in the region is rather
\nlow compared to countries in Western Europe. Southeast Asia has
\nalways been alert to terrorism.<\/p>\n
What Sept. 11 did was to first highlight how vulnerable we all
\nare; it showed the international dimension of terrorism and the
\nU.S. government engaged in a fight against terror because of what
\nhappened.<\/p>\n
In the weeks after Sept. 11 ASEAN and country leaders issued
\nstatements condemning these acts and terrorism. ASEAN also
\nstepped up cooperation against terrorists and there were arrests
\nof suspects such as in Malaysia and the Philippines.<\/p>\n
The Philippines and Malaysia have also had exchanges in
\ninformation and links of intelligence agencies. Ministries in
\ncharge of transnational crime met in April in an antiterrorism
\ncampaign. The recent ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum) meeting (in
\nBrunei) gave particular focus to the issue.<\/p>\n
What about the different stance of members countries on the
\nissue, like Indonesia, compared to Singapore, Malaysia and
\nSingapore?<\/p>\n
Countries have largely subscribed to their leaders'
\ndeclaration. ASEAN chiefs of police have worked together to fight
\nagainst transnational crime ...<\/p>\n
Q: What is your view on fears that the terrorism issue may be
\nused by governments in this region to crack down on their
\nrespective opposition groups?<\/p>\n
A: In Malaysia and Singapore, as far as I know the arrests were
\nmade on sound evidence.<\/p>\n
Q: The ASEAN regional forum (ARF), apart from confidence building
\nmeasures, has not been able to make substantial progress for the
\nregion. Overlapping territorial claims of the Spratly islands
\nremain. Why the slow progress?<\/p>\n
A: The claims have continued for decades... They have invoked
\ninternational law and law of the sea and history... Clearly
\nthere must be a settlement; now it is in the interests of all to
\nstabilize the situation.<\/p>\n
In 1995 (among latest incidents) China occupied the Mischief
\nReef (in the Philippines); ASEAN (members) then said it would be
\nvery difficult to settle all these claims. So everyone agreed to
\nhave a code of conduct to avoid fighting.<\/p>\n
Since talks on the code of conduct the South China Sea has
\nbeen quite calm. Now ASEAN countries have agreed on a code of
\nconduct and will be discussing this with China.<\/p>\n
Q: Japan's economic role in the region is declining. Do you think
\nChina will take over the role?<\/p>\n
A: Japan's economy is much larger... and is now stagnant. It is
\na big market for ASEAN, a big source of tourism and investment.
\nChina is growing which is not a bad thing; we see China as a
\ngrowing market and major source of tourism. So ASEAN is trying to
\nstrengthen relations with both Japan and China. And trying to
\nengage both and South Korea in the ASEAN+3 forum so economic and
\npolitical fortunes in East Asia will be more closely interlinked.<\/p>\n
Q: What do you consider an important achievement in your term as
\nASEAN Secretary General?<\/p>\n
A: When I came to ASEAN it had been hit by the financial crisis
\nand environment problems, like the haze; there were the new
\nmembers, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.<\/p>\n
ASEAN responded quite effectively to all of this and to ensure
\nthat the impact of the crisis was cushioned primarily through
\neconomic and internal reform and framing financial arrangements
\nto stabilize the currency.<\/p>\n
On the haze, we took measures to strengthen monitoring
\nability, to train firefighters and the communities... Indonesia
\nhas done its bit in persecuting those who were involved in the
\nforest fires.<\/p>\n
ASEAN has also expanded its cooperation. There has been the
\nrise of problems across national boundaries such as HIV and AIDS,
\ntransnational crime, terrorism. We also have to take the
\ninitiative to close the development gap between members.<\/p>\n
We've drawn up a work plan covering information and
\ncommunication technology, regional economic integration and human
\nresources development.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow (Aug. 15) we are holding a forum to form partnerships
\ninvolving dialog partners, ASEAN older members and international
\nagencies.<\/p>\n
ASEAN however has to do more in linkages of services;
\ntransportation links, energy links, removing barriers to trade
\nand investment. Beyond this we have to work hard and faster for
\nan integrated economy, to attract more investment and thus more
\njobs.<\/p>\n
Q: And your disappointments?<\/p>\n
A: One should not look back, there are no regrets. We have to be
\nrealistic about ASEAN with its different histories and it takes
\ntime to work these things through. It has come a long way in
\ncoalescing with each other in acting against regional problems.
\nThere has been some progress in achieving integration in the
\neconomy of newest members.<\/p>\n
Q: What more would you like to be done?<\/p>\n
A: Hastening progress of integration; ASEAN should be better
\nknown and understood; we should involve people, the private
\nsector, civic organizations and the wider public; without that
\nyou don't get support in the common fight for common purposes.<\/p>\n
Q: ASEAN cannot do much to improve the situation in Myanmar,
\nbecause of the non-interference principle...<\/p>\n
A: I don't know why non interference is always brought up, what
\ncountry wants to be interfered with? Germany wouldn't want to be
\ninterfered with, would it? Myanmar is an ASEAN member; we need to
\nensure that it benefits from ASEAN and links to ASEAN and shows
\nits capacity to do so. I am sure that Myanmar can benefit or it
\nwouldn't have joined ASEAN.<\/p>\n
In some cases it might have difficulty in adjusting, as for a
\nlong time it has been a closed economy.
\nWhat would you hope for Mr. Ong in continuing your work?<\/p>\n
Mr. Ong is an expert in information and country affairs in
\nSingapore and knows how to deal with the public. That's crucial.
\nASEAN has had a lot of misperceptions; either some expect too
\nmuch of it or some don't think it is important.<\/p>\n
Many forget that it's comprised of sovereign nations and its
\nrelatively short history, and that it was born under difficult
\ncircumstances.<\/p>\n
Q: And will East Timor, the newest nation, soon join ASEAN?<\/p>\n
A: East Timor is very young. Its foreign minister (Jose Ramos
\nHorta) was invited to an ASEAN ministerial meeting last month as
\na guest and next year he will be invited too. There is ample
\nopportunity to consider the kind of association that East Timor
\nwill have with ASEAN.<\/p>",
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