KL opposes expansion of ASEAN members

KL opposes expansion of ASEAN members

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia yesterday objected categorically
to proposals by certain counterparts in ASEAN to expand
membership to non-Southeast Asian nations, asserting that ASEAN's
identity should be preserved.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi said the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should consolidate after its
expansion into a 10-member grouping to encompass Burma, Cambodia
and Laos by the year 2000.

"Of late, however, some of us in ASEAN appear to be going
through some kind of identity crisis," he told the seventh
Southeast Asia forum organized by ASEAN and the Institute of
Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), Malaysia's
independent think-tank.

"The admission of non-Southeast Asian nations has been
advocated. The reason presumably is the growing economic linkages
of these states with Southeast Asia besides their geographical
proximity to the region," he said.

Abdullah's remarks followed reports in January that quoted
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong as saying Australia and
New Zealand could join ASEAN in the future.

While making no direct reference to Singapore's overtures,
Abdullah said if ASEAN used the growing economic linkages and
geographical proximity as the yardstick, "very soon, China, and
perhaps India should be members of ASEAN."

Coincidentally, U.S. ambassador Frank Wisner said last
Saturday that India, which recently became a dialog partner of
ASEAN, would end up being part of ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in a few years.

Formed in 1967, ASEAN now groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and has a
secretariat based in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

Abdullah said ASEAN would run the risk of losing its identity
if its membership lines were blurred.

"We must draw the line somewhere," Abdullah said, expressing
Malaysia's wishes to hold the line in Southeast Asia. But he was
quick to add that Malaysia was not advocating a closing of
Southeast Asia or a "circling of the wagons."

ASEAN could conduct the fullest of engagements with all
significant economic and political powers through the ASEAN
dialog process, grouping-to-grouping relations, and through
common participation in larger regional processes.

He named APEC, of which ASEAN is a member, and the ASEAN
Regional Forum as the platforms on which ASEAN could build
stronger economic and political ties with the outside world.

Among ASEAN itself, Abdullah said members should curb the
occasional temptation for unilateral initiative without adequate
prior consultation.

"We must guard against a loss in cohesion," Abdullah said,
while warning that a compromise of the principle of consensus
would undermine ASEAN's integrity as a powerful regional economic
and political player.