ASEAN Troika not designed for Maluku, says Alwi Shihab

ASEAN Troika not designed for Maluku, says Alwi Shihab

BANGKOK (JP): Indonesia affirmed on Tuesday its support for
the newly formed ASEAN Troika mechanism designed to cope with
transborder issues, but stressed that it would not accept the new
mechanism in the bloody sectarian conflict in its eastern Maluku
provinces.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab underlined
that the troika was not a suitable issue to warrant the mediation
of the ASEAN Troika, while asserting that the Maluku issue was a
wholly domestic problem.

The two-day meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers, which ended on
Tuesday, saw an agreement to establish the ASEAN Troika to help
face and resolve domestic issues which may have regional
implications.

However, the troika will still base its work on consensus, and
thus any one of the 10 ASEAN member states has the option of
rejecting the intercession of the troika if it considers the
matter to be an internal affair.

Alwi said that the troika would likely be more appropriate in
handling problems such as drug trafficking, forest fires and
haze.

"The troika can be used to solve these problems because it
involves other countries," he remarked.

Alwi then reasserted that Indonesia would be willing to
consider technical assistance in the case of Maluku.

"Humanitarian relief maybe, not personnel in terms of military
forces."

Terms

The idea of a troika was agreed upon during the informal ASEAN
summit in Manila last year.

In the past two days, the ministers agreed to a set of
principles and terms of how the troika would work.

In its document on the troika, the ASEAN ministers agreed that
the purpose of this ad hoc committee would be to "enable ASEAN to
address in a timely manner urgent and important regional
political and security issues and situations of common concern
likely to disturb the regional peace and harmony".

However, under the scope of the troika's, it was also stated
that it "shall refrain from addressing issues that constitute the
internal affairs of ASEAN member countries".

Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan, who presided over the
meetings as ASEAN chairman, said that he could give no specific
examples that could warrant the enactment of the new mechanism.
He merely gave the nature and criteria of issues which are
"common", "threatening" and "urgent" as those which might need
the intervention of the troika.

He acknowledged that there were still "limitations" on how far
the troika could go, given the ability of individual member
states to reject it.

"But we agreed that through the process of consultations we
would gradually agree on the emergency nature of the issue, or
the spill over effect of the issue and would be able to respond,"
he said.

The effectiveness of the troika, which comprises the current,
past and future ASEAN chair, would depend very much on the
ability of the current chairman, who officially has been given a
great deal of leeway to examine various issues.

If there is an objection over the role of the troika, the
chair can then call for the a meeting of the 10 foreign ministers
to further discuss the issue.

Surin seemed to relish the idea of being given that much
latitude in looking at various issues, admitting that "I wish I
had that much latitude during the past year ... It would have
been a different chairmanship".

When pressed further on the lack of clear guidelines of how
the troika would work, particularly the definitions of issues in
which it could be invoked, Surin replied: "This is as best as we
can explain and contemplate prior to the real situation
happening".

He admitted that the birth of the troika was in large part due
to the perceived waning influence of ASEAN.

"Some have said that the ASEAN organization, particularly
after the crisis, is not relevant, is not capable, not effective.
And we are addressing that very perception," he asserted.

"The troika is just one effort to make it worthy of your
confidence." (mds)