APA takes human rights, democracy as its agenda

APA takes human rights, democracy as its agenda

Rita A. Widiadana and Ati Nurbaiti, The Jakarta Post, Sanur,
Bali

The second ASEAN People's Assembly (APA) ended here on Sunday,
coming up with recommendations on five key issues: human rights
and democracy, gender, HIV/AIDS and global media.

Assembly organizing committee chairman Hadi Susastro said the
recommendations would be submitted to the upcoming ASEAN Summit
in November for consideration.

On human rights and democracy, according to Carolina Hernandez
of the Philippines, the ASEAN principle of nonintervention has
prevented the organization from taking up sensitive issues such
as the deportation by Malaysia of hundreds of thousands of
illegal migrants, mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Malaysian activist Debbie Stothard questioned how ASEAN could
so easily "criticize the conditions in other countries while it
lets members treat their own people this way," she said.

Malaysia's crackdown against hundreds of thousands of illegal
migrants has drawn criticism from Indonesia and the Philippines.

No less than 64 illegal Indonesian workers have died from
illness in refugee camps in Nunukan, East Kalimantan, after they
fled Malaysia.

Meanwhile, reports said no less than 16 Filipinos had died,
half of them in Malaysia, some on board the vessels taking them
home to the Philippines.

On a less politically sensitive issue, ASEAN has also failed
to address the problem of HIV/AIDS, which has been spreading
quite rapidly in some parts of the region.

The latest figure for HIV carriers in the Asia Pacific region
stands currently at 7 million people.

But still the approach taken by ASEAN and its members has
largely focused on the health aspects, while the Assembly is of
the view that HIV/AIDS has become a "human security" problem --
affecting families, communities, food security and the economy.

Regarding the media, recommendations have come up for a
regional press council as a self-regulating mechanism to bring an
end to the intervention of "thin-skinned governments", such as
Singapore's, when such governments are offended, particularly by
the foreign media.

"We need to move away from a system in which the government
decides when the media has gone too far," Cherian George of
Singapore said.

Admitting the difficulty in bringing ASEAN closer to its
peoples, Hadi Susastro said that "what's important is to continue
this endeavor with the intention of expanding it, to political
party members and the grass roots."

Former foreign minister Ali Alatas hailed the Assembly as a
new experiment, as many people in Southeast Asian countries did
not even know what ASEAN was.

"Ask them what ASEAN is, what its impact is on their lives,
and they don't know."

Next year the Assembly is scheduled to be held in Manila. The
first Assembly was held in Batam, Indonesia, in 2000.