ASEAN solidarity at stake as leaders meet for summit
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
HANOI (JP): When ASEAN leaders sit down for their annual summit on Tuesday, the eyes of the region and the world will look to them to produce concrete results and a show of solidarity in a grouping facing a crisis of confidence.
Unlike the 1995 ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, in which the grouping was the epitome of poise and calm, the leaders now meet under a completely different regional setting.
The nine leaders' meeting will be filled with ironies and dilemmas as teething problems erode much of the grouping's stature.
Even long-held ASEAN principles such as nonintervention are coming under direct attack as a result of the Cambodia question.
ASEAN foreign ministers were anything but united with the acclaimed ASEAN spirit of compromise nowhere to be found, leaving the leaders to decide what has become the summit's most contentious issue.
In the past, such obstacles seemed unthinkable. When Myanmar was accepted as a full member in July 1997, ASEAN brushed aside the international outcry for warmly welcoming a government accused of blatant human rights abuses.
Nonintervention in member states' internal affairs was once a sacred principle that was never compromised, and the dilemma now is whether national interests should override one of ASEAN's basic tenets.
If the leaders fail to reach a consensus on such a fundamental issue as membership, it will signify a lack of synergy in a grouping which has always prided itself on its cohesiveness.
Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas admitted there was a fear by many members that the Cambodia issue could be seen as blatant domestic interference.
Nevertheless he rejected the suggestion that as a result, ASEAN was going through an identity crisis.
"No, not at all. It's not as serious as that," he told The Jakarta Post. "Anyway don't be too quick to say crisis, we have too much of that already".
An undercurrent of friction continues among some ASEAN leaders -- for example Philippine President Joseph Estrada and Indonesian President B.J. Habibie have cold-shouldered Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad over the latter's treatment of his dismissed deputy Anwar Ibrahim.
Other ASEAN leaders due to attend the summit are Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Laoian Prime Minister Sisavat Keobounphanh, Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Thai Premier Chuan Leekpai.
Declaration
The results of the summit will be published in two main documents: the Hanoi Plan of Action and the Hanoi Declaration.
The Hanoi Plan of Action is a lengthy document of more than a dozen pages, designed to be a six-year blueprint for ASEAN Vision 2020.
Adopted in December 1997, the Vision aims to achieve a concert of Southeast Asian nations which is outward looking, living in peace, bonded together in a dynamic development outlook and existing in a community of caring societies.
The Plan of Action covers a wide range of areas from macroeconomic and financial Cooperation, through social development and environmental protection, to regional security.
The core element of these documents, which will include a Statement on Bold (economic) Measures, is aimed at expediting economic recovery through concrete medium and short-term measures.
Through an acceleration of the ASEAN Free Trade Area and the provision of investment incentives, ASEAN leaders hope to resuscitate their economies and make the region a leading investment area.
Foreign direct investment into ASEAN declined from US$31.4 billion in 1996 to $19 billion in 1997.
Among the measures set to be given the go-ahead is the acceleration of the ASEAN Free Trade Area from 2003 to 2002, along with the ASEAN Investment Area from 2010 to 2003.
The "bold measures" for investors include an array of incentives in the manufacturing sector for qualified investors applying between Jan. 1, 1999 and Dec. 31, 2000.
These include a three-year corporate income tax exemption or a minimum 30-percent corporate investment tax allowance, 100- percent foreign equity ownership and duty-free imports of capital goods.
The Hanoi Declaration, as it presently stands, is a 29-point statement affirming the leaders' general conviction on a number of regional economic, political and security objections.
These include moving ASEAN to a higher regional plane of cooperation and economic integration along with a promise to reform shortcomings in members' respective economies.