ASEAN stresses willingness to dabate human rights with EU

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian officials have stressed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is ready to air human rights issues with the European Union as long as any discussion is conducted in a constructive manner and not aimed at cornering individual countries.

The Director General for the ASEAN Secretariat at the Indonesian foreign ministry, Rahardjo Djamtomo, said yesterday that general discussions on human rights had already taken place within the ASEAN-EU dialog relationship.

"We don't reject discussions on human rights. But if the discussions are slanted against a country then it would no longer be helpful ... In fact it would be very disruptive (of the dialog relationship)," Rahardjo told The Jakarta Post.

ASEAN and EU foreign ministers assemble in Singapore next week to hold their 12th dialog meeting. The two-day meeting, held every 18 months, will cover a host of economic, social and political topics tied to the cooperation framework of the two regional groupings.

ASEAN however has warned the EU not to bring up specific issues such as East Timor.

The Indonesian foreign ministry's Director General for Political Affairs, Izhar Ibrahim, warned Monday that ASEAN would not be prepared to discuss East Timor.

Jakarta maintains that the issue should be pursued through the on-going tripartite talks under the aegis of the United Nations secretary-general.

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated into Indonesia in 1976. However Portugal is still recognized by the United Nations and western countries as the territory's administrating power.

Indonesia is upset that Portugal often raises the issue through the 15-nation EU and thus aggravates EU-ASEAN relations.

Rahardjo argued that the dialog relationship between ASEAN and the EU had yielded many positive results and had the potential to be highly beneficial to both sides.

"So if we want it to continue to develop and be beneficial, the relationship shouldn't be disrupted by extraneous issues," he warned.

When asked to elaborate on what was meant by "extraneous issues", Rahardjo replied: "Things which have nothing whatsoever to do with ASEAN-Europe interaction."

He underlined that while ASEAN welcomed discussions on human rights they should be a constructive dialog based on the UN spirit of cooperation.

"For instance if the EU wanted to talk with us about how to strengthen our human rights or asked for a better understanding of our position, then we'd welcome it," Rahardjo remarked.

Despite recent reports and the strong stance taken by ASEAN, Rahardjo said there had been no official requests by the EU to discuss the issue in the dialog meeting.

"There has been no such formal request but we know the possibility always exists and Indonesia is always prepared to counter it with its position and stance," he said.

Apart from the issue of East Timor, Myanmar's impending entry into the association is also a topic likely to be brought up by the EU.

Despite western criticism of the alleged suppression of human rights by the ruling military regime in Yangon, ASEAN has maintained a policy of constructive engagement with Myanmar. It is very likely to accept Myanmar as a full member of ASEAN later this year.

ASEAN currently groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (mds)