ASEAN countries told to be more self-reliant
ASEAN countries told to be more self-reliant
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas is urging the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to become more self-reliant in order to counter wavering financial aid and the imposition of conditionalities by aid donor countries.
"ASEAN must strengthen its self-reliance, particularly in developing its resources, so it can fund ASEAN cooperation projects and programs," Alatas said during his annual briefing to journalists yesterday.
Forecasting developments in the 1995 foreign policy arena, he noted that limited resources and competition from newly formed states may create a thinning in the disbursement of aid.
He added that "there are signs of reluctance from dialog partners to provide financial assistance to ASEAN countries."
ASEAN is a socio-economic organization created in 1967 which comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand. Vietnam is tipped to become the seventh member when ASEAN holds its fifth Summit at the end of the year in Bangkok.
Despite the crux in financial assistance, Alatas was adamant that ASEAN would not yield to the imposition of conditionalities.
The minister stressed that like other nations, ASEAN members recognized the importance of human rights. "Nonetheless we cannot accept a forcible imposition of values which are incongruous with the situations and conditions prevailing in ASEAN countries."
Focusing on Indonesia, Alatas said that even though the country's main donors, combined in the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), have consistently increased their assistance, there remained a possible decline for the coming year.
The CGI groups Indonesia's major donors, comprising 18 countries, who last year pledged a total of US$5.2 billion in aid, a slight increase over the 1993 pledge of $5.1 billion
Although the CGI's commitment shows an increase, there is a possibility that donor countries may change their policy in the region or country which receives priority in aid, Alatas said.
Human Rights
Evaluating the issue of human rights as a much used subject to malign Indonesia, Alatas anticipates a lessening frenzy due to the shift in the internal political structure of the United States.
"With the Republican party's domination of the Congress, attention on foreign policy, trade and defense will tend to increase while, conversely, issues such as human rights and East Timor will probably be touched on with less intensity," he said.
The Republican Party swept the November mid-term elections in the United States, gaining a majority in the Congress and Senate as well as electing Republican governors in 30 of the 50 states.
"The shift in political power in the United States Congress in 1994 is expected to indirectly bring about positive change," Alatas said.
He also noted that despite it still being a dominant issue in the coming months, international discussions on human rights, along with the environment and democratization, have shown a new course in dialog and accommodation.
"The cooperative approach is becoming increasingly evident in an attempt to bridge the differing perceptions among various groups of nations," he said.
Alatas acknowledged that Indonesia's human rights could still be improved on but quickly added that no country in the world has a perfect record, and that Jakarta's efforts have been duly recognized by the international community.
Evidence of this lies in the fact that Indonesia was elected for a second consecutive term in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights for the 1994-1996 period.(mds)