ASEAN pledges solidarity and unity in spite of rows

By Oei Eng Goan and Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

SINGAPORE (JP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) pledged on Friday that the emergence of quarrels between member states would not undermine the grouping's unity and solidarity in the coming millennium.

"Within ASEAN, some of us have disputes or quarrels. On that we agreed just as we have managed the differences in the past it should not impede ASEAN cooperation," Singapore foreign minister S. Jayakumar said.

Speaking to journalists following a "retreat" with fellow ministers, Jayakumar said the grouping would maintain its unity notwithstanding occasional hiccups.

"Whatever bilateral disputes there have been, the foreign ministers and other ministers have been able to keep up the cooperation," he noted.

The four-hour retreat on Sentosa Island, the first one held, was designed to allow ministers to hold an honest and frank brainstorming on ASEAN's future.

Earlier, the 10 ASEAN members during the opening of their meeting expressed unity to enhance the region's resources and assets to make them more resilient in facing global challenges in the coming millennium.

With increasing global interdependence, ASEAN cannot but build bridges with other regions to promote its cooperation and relations, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in his address opening the 32nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting at the Mandarin Hotel.

Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan said ASEAN should come up with consolidated and practical projects that could train and mold a new generation of leadership if it wished to be prepared to face the challenges ahead.

"We owe it to our posterity that their leadership shall be more prepared, more educated and more enlightened than that of our generation. And when we have good leadership, we will have our vision of a prosperous and secure Southeast Asia fulfilled."

Indonesia's Ali Alatas said the half billion population of ASEAN constituted the greatest asset and chief instrument for progress in the region as envisaged in the Hanoi Action Plan and ASEAN Vision 2020 documents.

"We must therefore exhaust all means to enhance the quality of our human resources and keep faith in the perfectibility of our peoples," Alatas noted.

Since its establishment 32 years ago by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, ASEAN has made great strides in both political and economic spheres.

The dream of ASEAN's founding fathers to have all 10 countries in Southeast Asia become members came true after Brunei joined in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in April.

Surin said the enlargement of ASEAN should be accompanied by a heightened responsibility and meaningful cooperation in the coming millennium. "We need to show to the world that our large membership, rather than losing a sense of purpose and focus, indicates instead a continued and firmer resolve to achieve greater goals," he noted.

Malaysia's minister Syed Hamid Albar said ASEAN prospered because its members had adhered closely to the principles of noninterference in the internal affairs of each member, mutual respect and equality.

"Cooperating together on that basis, we have succeeded in establishing a peaceful environment in Southeast Asia and overcome decades of divisiveness, tension and turmoil (through consultation and consensus)," Hamid stressed.

Principles

During the retreat, the ministers agreed that ASEAN principles on consensus, consultation and noninterference in internal affairs had served the group well and should not be abandoned in facing new challenges, Jayakumar said.

Jayakumar revealed that ministers pondered on how to approach domestic issues which had a regional impact.

He remained vague on how this sensitive question was resolved, saying only that it was discussed as "whether the concept of enhanced interaction enables ASEAN to move forward to deal with such problems".

The ministers expressed a desire to avoid the emergence of a gap between the newer members and the earlier members.

"The ASEAN Secretariat was asked to look again at the various numbers of projects relating to the Mekong Basin Development," he explained.

Summing up his briefing he said: "The retreat brought about a resolve that at the end of the day, despite all the problems we have, there's considerable benefit for continued cooperation. But the key is we must remain united!"