SE Asia watching Australia's response to drug execution<\/p>\n
Roberto Coloma, Agence France-Presse\/Singapore<\/p>\n
Southeast Asian nations are closely watching Australia's reaction
\nto the imminent hanging of one of its citizens in Singapore ahead
\nof a key regional summit, diplomats and analysts said.<\/p>\n
The scheduled execution on Dec. 2 of heroin runner Nguyen
\nTuong Van, 25, has become a highly charged issue in Australia,
\ntriggering calls for retaliation including economic sanctions and
\na boycott of Singapore firms.<\/p>\n
Singapore has been branded an \"island of death\" and a \"rogue
\nChinese port city\" by Australian critics for rejecting clemency
\nfor the former Vietnamese refugee and maintaining a hardline
\nstance on capital punishment.<\/p>\n
But Australian officials led by Prime Minister John Howard
\nhave adopted a more measured approach, preferring to focus on
\npleas to commute Nguyen's death sentence while admitting that
\nonly a miracle could save his life.<\/p>\n
Australia is set to join next month's inaugural East Asia
\nSummit in Malaysia, thanks in part to strong lobbying by
\nSingapore despite reservations in other participating countries
\nabout Australia's role in the region.<\/p>\n
Rodolfo Severino, the former secretary-general of the
\nAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said Australian
\nreactions to the hanging \"could cast some shadows on the
\nAustralian participation\" in the summit.<\/p>\n
But he told AFP that other summit participants \"are aware of
\nthe position of the Australian prime minister.\"<\/p>\n
A veteran Singaporean diplomat, asked to comment on the
\nhammering his country was getting in Australia, said that \"I do
\nnot, at this stage, see any serious damage to bilateral relations
\nat all.\"<\/p>\n
\"That is partly because Singapore leaders have chosen to be
\nextremely level-headed about the issue and have taken pains, at
\nthe very highest levels, to explain the Singapore position and
\nthe constraints Singapore faces.\"<\/p>\n
There is also a \"general awareness\" in Singapore that it is
\nthe Australian opposition that is \"deliberately exploiting the
\nissue to serve its narrow ends,\" said the diplomat, who spoke on
\ncondition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
He said Southeast Asian nations \"are generally not impressed
\nby this kind of robust criticism\" but \"it is important that the
\nsituation is managed properly, otherwise peoples of both
\ncountries will be the losers.\"<\/p>\n
Nguyen was arrested at Changi airport three years ago while in
\ntransit from Cambodia to Australia with 400 grams of heroin in
\nhis possession. The death penalty is mandatory for drug
\ntrafficking in Singapore.<\/p>\n
The furor over his case follows similar denunciations of
\nIndonesia's justice system after two Australian women were found
\nguilty of drug offenses in Bali.<\/p>\n
Severino pointed out that Singapore and Indonesia were \"the
\nmost public in advocating the inclusion of Australia\" in next
\nmonth's East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, which has ASEAN at its
\ncore.<\/p>\n
Singapore and Indonesia are among ASEAN's most influential
\nmembers.<\/p>\n
Severino, a former Philippine diplomat who is currently a
\nvisiting senior research fellow at Singapore's Institute of
\nSoutheast Asian Studies, does not expect serious damage to
\nSingapore-Australia relations.<\/p>\n
He cited the 1995 hanging of a Filipina maid in Singapore,
\nFlor Contemplacion, which sparked popular indignation in her home
\ncountry but \"did not permanently harm Philippines-Singapore
\nrelations.\"<\/p>\n
Singapore's Minister for Community Development Vivian
\nBalakrishnan told the Australian business community here last
\nweek that their country has \"a special place in our hearts.\"<\/p>\n
Some 250,000 Singaporeans visited Australia last year, the
\nSingapore Armed Forces trains in Australia and many Singaporeans,
\nincluding several cabinet ministers, were educated there, he
\npointed out.<\/p>\n
Singapore is Australia's largest trading partner in Southeast
\nAsia and eighth largest trading partner globally, with bilateral
\ntrade in 2005 expected to surpass last year's total of US$8.8
\nbillion. State-linked Singaporean companies have also invested
\nheavily in Australia.<\/p>\n
Even the Singaporean diplomat who was critical of the
\n\"bullying\" going on in Australia said bilateral relations \"are
\nboth strong and deep\".<\/p>\n
\"Thousands of our students, for example, have studied in
\nAustralia -- as have both my children -- and love the country.
\nWhat is happening now is an aberration.\"<\/p>",
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