ASEAN told to abondon non-interference policy

ASEAN told to abondon non-interference policy

SINGAPORE (AFP): Southeast Asian nations should change their
policy of non-interference in other member countries where
internal political problems have regional implications, former
Philippine president Fidel Ramos suggested on Friday.

He said the tradition of non-interference in domestic affairs
among member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) was useful in the early years when the grouping was
building up mutual confidence.

But now, Ramos said, this "seems to have hobbled the
association, preventing it from taking purposeful action," he
told a forum at the National University of Singapore.

Ramos, who stepped down in 1998 at the end of his six-year
term, cited the political crisis in Indonesia, and the East Timor
problem in particular, as well as the Spratly islands dispute in
the South China Sea as examples of ASEAN's weakness in responding
forcefully to domestic issues.

"Just now, ASEAN's reputation is at an ebb," he lamented.
"Doubts are being expressed -- in the light of recent events --
about its effectiveness," he said.

Thailand and the Philippines have called for a re-examination
of ASEAN's non-interference policy, arguing that domestic events
in one ASEAN member state could adversely affect its neighbors.

During the East Timor troubles late last year, Ramos said
ASEAN -- deferring to Jakarta -- "ended up passively supporting
the intervention of the Western powers led by the assertive
Australians."

Militias, backed by members of the Indonesian armed forces,
conducted a violent campaign of murder and intimidation in East
Timor in the month leading to an August 30 referendum on East
Timor's future.

The violence worsened after the ballot in which East Timorese
voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia, which
invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975.

More recently, Ramos said disputes over the Spratlys among
three of the four Southeast Asian claimants were complicating
ASEAN's efforts to respond in concert to China's incursions into
the South China Sea.

When asked about the possibility of ASEAN mediating in a
brewing China-Taiwan dispute, he said: "ASEAN should not get in
there unless it is asked."

"On the other hand, we have to monitor what's going on because
the new world order is very fragile," he added.

Southeast Asia must become more closely integrated and ASEAN
member states must seek a new balance between national
sovereignty and regional purpose.

Any involvement by Southeast Asian countries in neighbors'
domestic affairs with regional implications would be "the natural
consequence of growing Southeast Asian integration."

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are the members
of ASEAN laying claim to all or part of the Spratlys, along with
China and Taiwan.

The other ASEAN members are Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.

"ASEAN is not -- and was not -- meant to be a supranational
entity acting independently of its members. It makes no laws and
it has neither powers of enforcement nor a judicial system,"
Ramos said.

"Having said that, I must also say that, over these next few
years, ASEAN must change, if it is to keep pace with Southeast
Asia's evolving circumstances," he said.