An extended ASEAN

An extended ASEAN

After state visits to Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, President
Soeharto is back in Jakarta. According to State Minister/State
Secretary Moerdiono, the President is satisfied with the results
of the recent visits. The President also expressed his
appreciation for being warmly and cordially received in the three
countries -- an honor not only for himself as a head of state,
but also for the Indonesian nation as a whole.

Politically, there was an interesting aspect to the
President's visit to Myanmar. During the recent meeting held
between the foreign ministers of European and ASEAN countries,
Myanmar came under the spotlight of the European representatives.
They wanted to link cooperation with Myanmar to the manner in
which the Myanmarese power holders treat their people, the
opposition in particular. Some pressure was exerted by their side
under the currently prevailing conditions to exclude Myanmar from
ASEAN membership. It was against this background that the
President made his visit to Myanmar.

From the beginning, President Soeharto has welcomed the idea
of accepting the three countries as full members of ASEAN at the
right time. With the inclusion of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the
population of the ASEAN region would reach 500 million. With such
a large number of people, ASEAN's potential and clout would also
grow and ASEAN would be a market to be reckoned with. Other
countries would take ASEAN more seriously, among other things
because of its relative wealth in natural resources.

It is natural for other members of the international community
to interpret the President's recent visits in their own way. The
ASEAN context of those visits, however, should not be
disregarded, particularly since President Soeharto is ASEAN's
most senior head of state.

-- Republika, Jakarta