EU hypocrisy

EU hypocrisy

The dialog between ASEAN and the European Union (EU) began in
Singapore Thursday. On many issues, particularly those relating
to economy and trade, the discussions proceeded smoothly. On the
political plane, however, two obstacles stood out in this year's
routine meeting: Myanmar and East Timor.

Regarding Myanmar, the difference between ASEAN and the
European Union concerned the question of what attitude to take
towards Yangon. ASEAN believes it is best to persuade Myanmar to
continue to increase its contacts with the outside world,
particularly through ASEAN. The European Union wants the
international community to isolate Myanmar and its 50 million
inhabitants to exert pressure on the government and force it to
adopt a more democratic posture.

We believe the ASEAN stance is the right one since this
Southeast Asian regional organization was founded on the
principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
This principle has proven to be a solid foundation on which the
association has been able to grow into a successful regional
organization.

On the other hand, there is proof that isolation as a means to
pressure a totalitarian government into adopting a more
democratic demeanor has never been successful. One example is the
attempted isolation of Cuba by the United States, a process which
has been going on for several decades. If the world's only
superpower has not been able to pressure a small country of just
over ten million people such as Cuba into becoming more
democratic, what could ASEAN -- or even the European Union for
that matter -- do against a country such as Myanmar, whose
population is five times that of Cuba?

We consider the EU's framework of thinking to be hypocritical.
It seems the EU is more inclined to do things that make it feel
good, rather than to do good. Clearly, we in ASEAN aspire for
democracy to grow in this region with the passage of time.
However, we also realize that democracy must grow from the
grassroots and cannot be forced on anyone. Similarly, the EU's
pressure on ASEAN to raise the East Timor issue is insincerely
motivated. In other words, it is intended to make the EU feel
good rather to do what is good for the people of East Timor.

We are not closing our eyes to the fact that human rights
violations do still occur in East Timor, or elsewhere in this
country, for that matter. However, if the EU is sincere in its
intention to minimize human rights violations in the world, there
are many other more effective things that could be done, such as
assisting the National Commission on Human Rights, or opening
opportunities for Indonesian civilian and military authorities to
undertake comparative studies regarding the practice of human
rights in some of the more advanced countries.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta