Hun Sen must heed ASEAN's message

Cambodian Foreign Minister Ung Huot must feel like a small boy who visits his neighbor's house just as guests are arriving for a party to which he has not been invited.

The party was, of course, the opening of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Cambodia was supposed to join ASEAN with Myanmar and Laos to mark the grouping's 30th anniversary and realize its founders' vision of bringing all 10 Southeast Asian nations under one roof. But it was not to be. Cambodia's admission has been put on hold. While this is, of course, a decision for ASEAN to make, it clearly would have been a reprehensible and unjustifiable step to admit Cambodia now. A prestigious organization such as ASEAN cannot welcome leaders who decide to change their country's internal politics through violence.

It has been suggested in academic circles that ASEAN may be changing its long-established principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries. The perception is that ASEAN intends to substitute "constructive intervention" for "constructive engagement" with other states.

ASEAN is certainly not contemplating military intervention in countries such as Cambodia. But it may practice a new type of non-interference, one that may no longer be construed as a totally hands-off, passive approach to sensitive political issues. This may help to explain the blunt message delivered yesterday by Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi: "It is with disappointment and regret that we viewed the events in Cambodia in the last several weeks. As far as we are concerned, Prince Ranariddh is the first prime minister of Cambodia. We will need to work even harder to achieve Asean 10." We hope Cambodia's second prime minister, Hun Sen, will get the message.

-- The Hong Kong Standard