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.