ASEAN stands firm on noninterference

ASEAN stands firm on noninterference

MANILA (Agencies): Top officials denounced yesterday calls for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to drop its taboos against non-interference, maintaining only the Philippines and Thailand backed such a radical switch.

"Non-interference has always been at the very core of our guidelines," said Nugroho Wisnumurti, an Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman at the meeting of the ASEAN Standing Committee. "There is no reason for a change."

The start of ASEAN's 31st Annual Ministerial Meeting, hosted by the Philippines, was overshadowed by negative reactions to the moves to motivate members of the nine-member grouping to speak freely and criticize each other.

Lauro Baja, Philippine foreign affairs undersecretary who was chairman of the senior officials' session, told a news conference the consensus was against the proposal but it would not be immediately shelved. "The foreign ministers have a greater latitude and greater freedom of thought than the senior officials," and will resume the discussions July 23.

The Philippines and Thailand have openly advocated a shift from non-intervention to "flexible engagement," which would provide ASEAN member countries greater opportunities to become involved in issues occurring in another member country.

Indonesia, however, has opposed any change.

The proposed shift comes as Southeast Asian countries are becoming more aware that problems in one nation -- such as currency devaluations, political unrest or environmental degradation -- often affect its neighbors.

The shift would make it easier, for example, for ASEAN members to talk to Indonesia about its forest fires, which each year blanket much of the region in dangerous haze.

The non-intervention policy, adopted by ASEAN since its birth in 1967, has long been a sensitive issue because of non- democratic governments in some countries belonging to the group.

Change

The policy change is one of several contentious issues being discussed this week by the senior officials, who are preparing the formal agenda for ASEAN foreign ministers who hold their annual meeting in Manila on July 24 to 25.

Easing the Asian currency havoc, preventing further nuclear tests, encouraging honest and fair elections in Cambodia and battling transnational crime are among the top issues to be tackled during the meetings with dialog partners through July 29.

Baja denied Pakistan would be sending an emissary to the talks to speak out against the strong statement ASEAN plans to issue condemning the series of nuclear tests carried out in May by rivals India and Pakistan.

Pakistan has no links with ASEAN but India is a dialog partner and is carrying on an intense lobbying campaign in a bid to remove the statement condemning the tests and urging both nations to sign the treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty "without delay".

Turmoil

Both the Philippines and Thailand maintain more candid discussions are essential to ward off fresh bouts of turmoil resulting from the region's economic crisis and other touchy issues such as refugees fleeing Myanmar and Cambodia.

"The first thing we must do is define intervention," said Nyunt Maung, a Myanmar delegate. "If it focuses on political issues, it's not all right."

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged the international community to back her demand that the parliament elected in 1990 be allowed to convene by Aug. 21.

Although Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called for a review of ASEAN's non-intervention policy last year, the senior officials from Kuala Lumpur said their talks with other delegations showed all members except Thailand and the Philippines opposed any change.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.