ASEAN membership defended

ASEAN membership defended

SINGAPORE (AFP): ASEAN has not reached a stage where the
principle of human rights can dictate membership in the regional
club, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in remarks
released here yesterday.

The remarks were made in an interview with Philippine
journalists a day before ASEAN on May 31 decided to admit Myanmar
ignoring western pressure to keep it out over alleged human
rights abuses by the Rangoon junta.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam. Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos will join next month.

"Each one of us has our own perception of the degree of human
rights," Goh said according to the transcript of the interview
released here ahead of his visit to the Philippines next week.

"Core human rights, we in Singapore believe in that. But
Myanmar? What about Cambodia? What about Laos? What about
Philippines? Do we say that a country which ignores certain
principles of human rights should leave ASEAN?

"We haven't come to that stage yet."