ASEAN summit marks the beginning of a new era
ASEAN summit marks the beginning of a new era
Leaders of the seven-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations will meet in Bangkok tomorrow. Political analyst Dewi
Fortuna Anwar speaks of the summit's importance.
JAKARTA (JP): The fifth ASEAN summit in Bangkok tomorrow will
be an historic occasion. In addition to the seven members of
ASEAN, the summit will be attended by the leaders of Laos,
Cambodia and Myanmar. Laos and Cambodia will be official ASEAN
observers, while Myanmar's leader will attend as a guest of the
host country.
This is the first time that leaders from the 10 countries in
Southeast Asia have met in a regional forum. Vietnam, which had
been at odds with ASEAN since its establishment in 1967, joined
the association as a full member in July this year. Laos,
together with Vietnam, has been an official observer of ASEAN
since 1992, when the former signed the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and
Cooperation in Southeast Asia. After some hesitation Cambodia
also acceded to the Treaty at the last ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
in Brunei in July, thus becoming an ASEAN observer. Myanmar is
the only Southeast Asian country that has not developed an
official link with ASEAN. Laos, on the other hand, has already
expressed its wish to become an official ASEAN member by 1997.
The first ASEAN summit to be hosted by Thailand marks the
beginning of a new era for Southeast Asia. For centuries the
region has been divided, first by colonial rulers and later by
the Cold War. The end of the Cold War enabled Southeast Asian
countries to bury their ideological and political differences,
and work together towards a common future.
It is fitting that the first gathering take place in Bangkok.
For it was here that the modest Bangkok Declaration establishing
ASEAN was made on Aug. 8, 1967. The founding fathers of ASEAN had
dreamt of uniting Southeast Asia under one regional organization,
but the Cold War stood in the way. Twenty-eight years later the
dream is becoming a reality.
The current summit is symbolic and substantive in nature and
signifies the evolution of ASEAN. It is clear that the widening
of ASEAN, with the inclusion of Vietnam, will not hamper intra-
ASEAN cooperation as many had feared. Vietnam has shown a
willingness and ability to participate in the ASEAN Free Trade
Area (AFTA), though it won't be able to until slightly after
2003. Further enlargement of ASEAN will not disrupt existing
ASEAN projects, now mostly centered around AFTA, since new
members can join when they are ready.
Besides finalizing the move towards AFTA through the Common
Effective Preferential Tariff plan, the Bangkok summit will
realize the decade-long struggle for a Southeast Asian Nuclear
Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ). This concept was first introduced in
the early 1980s by Indonesia's then foreign minister Prof.
Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, as an integral component of ZOPFAN (Zone
of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality).
The concept of ZOPFAN for Southeast Asia, introduced in 1971,
was difficult to sell during the Cold War, when the region was
used as a proxy battleground by the great powers. It was
believed, however, that a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, similar to
the ones already established in other parts of the world such as
the South Pacific, would be more concrete and attainable.
As it turned out, however, the SEANWFZ concept could not be
pushed through during the Cold War due to the strategic location
of the region. Of all the major powers, the United States has
been the most opposed to the SEANWFZ.
In Bangkok a treaty establishing the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone
will be signed by all of the regional leaders. Some cynics argue
that while the SEANWFZ is now feasible with the end of the Cold
War, it is no longer a necessity. Nevertheless, the zone means
long term insurance and a way to prevent regional countries from
developing nuclear weapons. Peace cannot be taken for granted and
we must strive to put in place as many mechanisms as possible to
prevent the outbreak of conflict.
Another important aspect about the Bangkok summit is the
institutionalization of the summit itself. ASEAN has been in
existence for over 28 years, but there have only been five summit
meetings, including this one. The first summit meeting was held
in Bali in 1976, nine years after ASEAN was founded. A year later
there was another summit, but the third summit only took place in
1987. For years, a meeting of high level policy makers was not
considered an essential and routine part of regional cooperation.
Since then there has been a significant change of attitude.
For ASEAN to remain vital and viable in the face of
international changes and economic competition, the heads of
states or governments must be involved in every aspect of ASEAN
cooperation.
At the fourth summit in Singapore in 1992 it was agreed that a
high level meeting would be institutionalized and held on a
regular basis. One hopes that the direct involvement of ASEAN's
decision makers will speed up regional cooperation and economic
progress.
The writer is head of the Regional and International Affairs
Division at the Center for Political and Regional Studies of the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences.