ASEAN stresses willingness to dabate human rights with EU

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)