Institution of APEC inevitable, Alatas says

JAKARTA (JP): Amidst growing concern over the formalization of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas yesterday admitted that APEC's institutionalization was inevitable.

"APEC, like it or not, has already undergone institutionalization in small stages," Alatas said here yesterday.

Alatas acknowledged that it was not really the institutionalization of APEC that Indonesia and other countries opposed but the pace of the process.

"It is unavoidable but what we don't want is for the institutionalization to happen too rapidly," he said.

APEC groups Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan and the United States along with members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia.

From the forum's conception in 1989, the ASEAN countries have reacted cautiously fearing that it might dilute the Association.

Such was the nascent anxiety towards APEC. A year later, in their meeting in Kuching, Malaysia, the ASEAN members declared that the forum must remain a loose consultative forum.

Among the most vocal critics is Malaysia, who displayed its aversion to the institutionalization of the forum when Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad abstained from attending the inaugural APEC economic leaders meeting on Blake Island, Seattle, last year.

Acceptance

According to Alatas there is general acceptance that some degree of institutionalization will occur, pointing to the establishment of an APEC secretariat in Singapore as an example.

"When we formed the secretariat everyone agreed, including Malaysia," he remarked.

Alatas continued his examples by noting the various committees formed by the APEC Senior Officials Meeting as an indelible proof of the gradual process. He further cited the formation of the Committee for Trade and Investment as an example.

He also stressed that it was the rapidity of the whole process which not only Malaysia opposed, but also Indonesia.

"Malaysia is not alone, none of us want it (too quickly)," he said.

Nevertheless it should be noted that it took tremendous persuasion during two Senior Officials Meetings before Malaysia would accept the transformation of the ad-hoc group on economic trends and issues into a new committee.

Concurring with Alatas, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, head of the regional and international affairs division at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said yesterday that to function optimally every organization requires some form of institutionalization.

"The question is how strict it will be," Dewi said.

Proposal

The issue of institutionalization has intensified lately in response to Indonesia's reported 11-point proposal to adopt a deadline for trade liberalization during the second economic leaders meeting at Bogor Presidential Palace on Nov. 15.

On Tuesday Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister, Rafidah Aziz, reportedly called the deadline "presumptuous" and that she would not support moves to institutionalize trade liberalization within APEC.

Indonesia has forwarded an 11-point proposal calling for trade liberalization to begin next year, with a deadline of no later than 2020.

"It is very surprising," Dewi Fortuna Anwar replied when asked by The Jakarta Post to comment on Indonesia's proposal.

In Dewi's opinion such an aggressive stance signified confidence but at the same time raised questions over Indonesia's domestic readiness to cope with such an ambitious idea.

She explained her concern as resulting from the fact that Indonesia itself may find it difficult to open up its guarded market.

"Domestically we don't have any free trade," she said adding that the proposal itself might very well be designed to address the inefficient monopoly of Indonesia's economy.

"So by engaging in international cooperation (such as APEC) we are actually aiming for a restructuring of our domestic market," she said.

The eminent political scientist also felt that should a proposal for trade liberalization be adopted, the decision would be non-binding in nature.

"I'm very sure that there won't be a decision to form a mechanism where countries are forced to open their markets," Dewi maintained. (mds)

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