ASEAN call for rights review generates concern

ASEAN call for rights review generates concern

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A surprise southeast Asian proposal to review the Universal Declaration on Human Rights has generated concern among activist groups and reignited an East-West debate on the issue.

The proposal, floated by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was meeting here, was quickly slammed by the group's western partners and human rights campaigners.

Fan Yew Teng, a prominent Malaysian human rights activist, expressed concern yesterday that some governments in the developing world could use a review of the declaration "as an excuse to suppress the people."

He cited the case of Myanmar, which has just joined ASEAN and is under relentless pressure from the United States and the European Union to improve its notorious human rights record.

"The biggest test for Myanmar was the 1993 democratic (election of a) civilian government which was not honored and ASEAN has shamefully condoned that, so how can they even talk about human rights?" Fan lashed out at the grouping.

Malaysia's opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) said the timing of the proposal was "most disturbing" since it came right after the controversial admission of Myanmar into ASEAN last week.

DAP secretary-general and MP Lim Kit Siang said the "nagging question" was whether ASEAN's call for a review "would reinforce the stubborn refusal of the Myanmar military junta" to "heed international calls to embark on democratic reforms."

Prime Minister Mahathir, regarded as a leading spokesman of the developing world, had said the document was formulated by "superpowers which did not understand the needs of poor countries."

Even the Philippines, a former U.S. colony normally identified with the liberal camp, backed a review.

The U.S. and European delegations which took part in the ASEAN meetings were taken aback by the Malaysian proposal.

U.S. officials called up the specter of World War II, the Holocaust and the "killing fields" of Cambodia -- a strife-torn country seeking membership in ASEAN -- to warn against any move to "dilute or undermine" human rights.

John Funston, an analyst at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said the clash clearly reflected the different priorities placed by Asian and Western countries on human rights.

"In the West, basic rights of food, housing and clean water are taken for granted, whereas in parts of the Asian region, these things are still problematic," he said.

"The American reaction seems to be a very quick one," noted Funston, who said the West had assumed there was a particular Asian agenda of reducing the commitments to individual freedoms under the existing document.

"This debate will continue for a long time. All that people can do is to agree to differ without being disagreeable to it," he added.

The assertion that there are distinct "Asian values" such as respect for authority and the supremacy of society over the individual has been countered by Western countries which maintain human rights enshrined in the declaration are "universal values."

K.S. Balakrishnan, a security and international policy analyst at Malaysia's government-linked Institute of Strategic and International Studies, said the western protest was a form of "neo-colonialism" to deny Asian countries their rights by pressuring them on trade and labor issues.

But he added Asian countries for their part should improve conditions in the region by working for the reform of authoritarian and communist regimes.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Tuesday the country accepted the fundamental principles of the rights declaration and was merely calling for a review of some provisions.