ASEAN looks to post-Saddam world

ASEAN looks to post-Saddam world

Jane Macartney, Reuters, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Southeast Asian nations, split over imminent war in Iraq, agreed on Wednesday to join forces to avert reprisal attacks by extremists in their region and to offer humanitarian assistance to a post-war Iraq.

Foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) cut short a two-day annual retreat at a secluded resort in Malaysia's Sabah state to fly home as President George W. Bush's 48-hour ultimatum to Iraq expires.

"We are not trying to find a consensus," said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar as he arrived for the day-long retreat on Borneo island.

The aim of the meeting was to compare positions on Iraq as well as on North Korea and to show support for the U.N. process, he said.

ASEAN members range from Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, to tiny communist Laos and the prosperous city state of Singapore. Their positions on the war vary greatly.

"If this war is seen as unjust, it could create a lot of anger and encourage people to take extreme positions," Syed Hamid told a closing news conference, adding that threats by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to take the war to the world should not be taken lightly.

"I will not be surprised if the repercussion is an increase in extreme activities," he said. The region is home to 250 million Muslims and considerable militant activity.

A bomb attack on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last October, which has been blamed on a pan-Asian radical Muslim network, killed about 200 people.

The ASEAN nations, which boast some of the most dynamic economies in Asia and whose biggest single trading partner is the United States, said they had agreed on the immediate need to study what Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong described as the "very, very serious consequences" of war on their economies.

These countries, frequently divided by different priorities and interests, will tread a delicate path over war in Iraq to maintain ties with the United States without alienating their large Muslim populations, senior officials said.

Further complicating their position are concerns over the potential for more deadly attacks by Islamic militants and the impact of high oil prices.

"What will be the implications of a war that could be exploited by terrorists and by extremists in the region?" said Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar, whose country's stand has been among the closest in the region to that of the United States.

Last October's Bali bombings prompted countries in the region to look at their security and to work to win the hearts and minds of their people away from militancy, officials said.

The meeting agreed on the need to help the people of Iraq.

"ASEAN should play a role in providing humanitarian assistance to Iraq, especially after the war, in order to help prevent a humanitarian disaster," said the Cambodian minister.

Differences between the neighbors over war were underscored by Malaysia and Singapore.

"This is not a question of support for Iraq or of being anti- American. We want to look at principles and the U.N. process," said Syed Hamid. However, he was careful after the meeting not to criticize the United States directly, urging civil action instead to call for peace.

His Singaporean counterpart took a different position.

"Does it serve the interests of the international community and does it serve the interests of international stability for there to be inaction?" Jayakumar said. "Or is it better that prompt and immediate action be taken for the disarmament of Iraq?"

While ASEAN had never sought a consensus on Iraq and expected its statements to be interpreted by Washington as playing to huge Muslim domestic audiences, some members were likely to offer quiet support, such as helping with passage of personnel, ships and aircraft.

Indonesia and mostly Muslim Malaysia are firmly against any U.S. attack on Iraq. They are worried anger among their people may lead to more militancy in a region where Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has already established ties with local groups and is suspected of plotting the Bali bombings.

The United States can count on greater support from staunch allies Singapore and the Philippines.

The other ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Also high on the agenda was North Korea, bracketed by U.S. President George W. Bush with Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil".

ASEAN members pledged to use their Regional Forum security meeting in June, attended by North Korea and the United States, as an opportunity to bring the two together while finessing Pyongyang's demand for bilateral talks to resolve the nuclear crisis and U.S. insistence on a multilateral meeting.

"Iraq and North Korea are paramount," said Syed Hamid.