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