ASEAN's nonintervention policy put to the test

ASEAN's nonintervention policy put to the test

By Beth Duff-Brown

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The longstanding pledge by Southeast Asian
nations to avoid interfering in each other's business was put to
the test recently when U.S. Vice President Al Gore came to town
and stepped into Malaysia's internal affairs.

In front of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, host to a Asia-
Pacific trade summit last month, Gore praised "the brave people
of Malaysia" for their fledgling democratic reform movement, one
that calls for Mahathir's political demise.

Most of the members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations came to Malaysia's defense, saying they found it
unspeakably rude that America's No. 2 leader would come to
Malaysia and spout off about Western-style democracy.

Even Thailand, the ASEAN member leading the call for more
cross-border criticism within the nine-nation group, chastised
the U.S. interference into Malaysian affairs.

"You have to be very, very careful toward each other's
feelings," Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuan said.

When ASEAN leaders meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, for their annual
two-day summit starting Dec. 15, being very careful of one
another's feelings may be difficult. Relations within the
organization, founded in 1967 to prevent the spread of war in the
region, have been severely strained this past year.

Bickering between Malaysia and Singapore escalated to fevered
threats and accusations over border controls, air space and water
rights until Mahathir called a truce.

The Philippine and Indonesian presidents took the
unprecedented step of publicly reprimanding Mahathir for the
sacking and jailing of his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim.

Next week, the Philippines will take issue with China, who is
sending Vice President Hu Jintao to observe the summit. The
Philippines is expected to urge ASEAN to issue a statement on the
conflicting claims over the mineral-rich atolls and reefs that
straddle vital sea lanes in the South China Sea.

Then there's Myanmar, also known as Burma, the newest ASEAN
member. The group has been criticized for accepting the military-
ruled country because of its dreadful human rights record, making
diplomats more cautious about the admission of Cambodia.

ASEAN currently comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. When
established, its goal was to bring all 10 Southeast Asian nations
into the ASEAN brotherhood; Cambodia's membership would fulfill
that pledge.

Cambodia was on the verge of joining ASEAN last year when
Prime Minister Hun Sen toppled his co-prime minister, Prince
Norodom Ranariddh, in a violent coup.

Now that a coalition government is in place in Phnom Penh, Hun
Sen has made entry into ASEAN a priority, seeing it as key to
establishing international legitimacy.

But Vietnam and Malaysia are the only ASEAN nations publicly
backing Cambodia's immediate entry and the membership issue is
likely to dominate the summit.

Non-interference into members' internal affairs could also be
on the agenda, though an attempt by Thailand and the Philippines
to alter that ASEAN founding principle was rejected when foreign
ministers met in Manila in July.

Surin told his counterparts that if they do not speak more
frankly about human rights and environmental issues, ASEAN would
lose credibility.

"Like it or not, the issues of democracy and human rights are
those that we have to increasingly deal with in our engagement
with the outside world," Surin said.

Other ASEAN members strongly disagreed.

Vietnam, which as summit host is supposed to mediate disputes
and foster consensus, opposes suggestions that the time has come
to comment on neighbors' internal affairs.

A draft of the Hanoi Declaration obtained by The Associated
Press and expected to be presented next week indicates that
Vietnam hopes to keep the non-interference issue out on the
greens: "We shall endeavor to resolve all our outstanding
problems and prevent the emergence of disputes in the ASEAN way."

Critics of ASEAN say that's the problem. The so-called "ASEAN
way" has accomplished little in the past 31 years.

"So long as you have some countries who do not recognize the
need for change, it will not move forward," said Abdul Razak
Baginda, director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Center, a
leading Kuala Lumpur think tank.

Abdul Razak notes that ASEAN was paralyzed during the
hazardous haze that blanketed the region last year. It stood by
silently during the Cambodian coup and the deadly riots that led
to the end of Indonesian President Soeharto's 32-year rule in
May. And it has done little to focus on the crippling Asian
economic crisis, now well into its second year.

"Clearly, ASEAN is unable to come up with some very strong
common stands," said Abdul Razak. "One gets the impression that
it's every man for himself."

The fledgling reform movement in Malaysia is hoping ASEAN will
chuck the non-interference policy and use the summit to discuss
Anwar, who is on trial for corruption and sodomy.

"You speak about justice, universal values and human rights,
that's not interference to me," Azizah Ismail, Anwar's wife and
de facto leader of his reform movement, told the Thai newspaper
The Nation. "Because those values are borderless."

Mahathir disagrees. During a recent visit to Brunei, he said
Southeast Asian leaders who begin sniping at one another would
undermine regional unity.

"That will be very bad, because we all have got a lot of
things to criticize about each other," said Mahathir, prime
minister for 17 years and currently Asia's longest-serving
leader.