RI's ASEAN peacekeeping force initiative gets big boost

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's new ASEAN Security Community (ASC) concept and the regional peacekeeping force initiative received a big boost last week not only from prominent members of the House of Representatives but also from intellectuals and the media despite some signals of skepticism from outside.

ASC, an Indonesia's initiative, is one of three pillars of the ASEAN Community, along with the ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Sociocultural Community.

The peacekeeping force, an integral part of the ASC, would be intended to resolve regional conflicts, participate in humanitarian missions and maintain security in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.

All 10 leaders of ASEAN agreed to establish an ASEAN Community by 2020 in their 2003 Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (Bali Concord II).

Aisyah Aminy, a House member from the United Development Party (PPP), welcomed the initiative and advised all sections of society to support Indonesia's initiative.

"We are divided over several issues and have problems like illegal logging, human trafficking and rights of our migrant workers with our neighbors. But we have to put our differences aside in supporting Indonesia's initiative. National interest should come first," Aisyah said on Friday during the Foreign Policy Breakfast gathering at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.

Foreign Policy Breakfast is an informal gathering of House members, academics, scholars and editors of both the electronic and print media to discuss foreign policy matters directly with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda and his team.

Aisyah asked the foreign minister to launch a public campaign to disseminate information about the ASEAN regional peacekeeping force and the ASC. She criticized the government for being slow in handling issues like human trafficking and migrant workers and requested the media play a key role in propagating Indonesia's foreign policy initiatives and other issues.

Djoko Susilo, a House member from the National Mandate Party (PAN), also attended the gathering. Both Aisyah and Djoko are members of House Commission I for foreign affairs.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a prominent scholar who is well versed in ASEAN matters, has congratulated Hassan and his team for putting forward the ASC and the regional peacekeeping force initiatives to bolster regional security.

"This (the initiative) will probably put an end to the marginalization of ASEAN and boost Indonesia's image as a leader of ASEAN for designing conflict resolution mechanism in the region," Dewi said.

Indonesia, according to Dewi, must put all its efforts into making it a success.

ASEAN, as a regional organization, always looked solid and cohesive whenever there was a threat but many of its members frequently acted emotionally on several issues, said Makmur Keliat, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia.

But Hassan responded quickly by advising that it would be wrong to wait for a threat before acting. Therein lies the importance of the ASC concept, which focuses equally on conflict prevention and peace building in a post-conflict period.

Moreover, ASEAN's noninterference policy has become increasingly irrelevant in the post-Cold War era in general and the post Sept. 11 period in particular.

Hassan, who briefed the gathering about Indonesian foreign policy and the reaction of ASEAN countries to Indonesia's regional peacekeeping force initiative at the recent ASEAN foreign ministers' retreat at Halong Bay, Vietnam, said foreign media, especially The Straits Times and The Nation, published articles on Indonesia's initiative, but local media had not carried much on this issue.

Singapore, the tiny but prosperous neighbor of Indonesia which would prefer ASEAN concentrate its energies on establishing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) first, was the first country to oppose Indonesia's initiative on a regional peacekeeping force on some vague grounds.

Singapore's foreign minister S. Jayakumar said in Halong Bay that ASEAN was the wrong body to play a peacekeeping role because it was not a defense organization.

While reacting to Singapore's stance, Hassan said ASEAN must work hard to strengthen the three pillars of the ASEAN Community simultaneously.

"We can't give priority to one pillar first and the next later. In this way, we would not achieve our goal of the ASEAN Community by 2020. That's why all three should be given equal priority," Hassan said.

Though ASEAN is neither a defense nor a security organization, the present security environment in a region where terrorism, violent separatist movements, border disputes and transnational crimes are rampant advocates a "crying need" for ASEAN countries to strengthen their conflict resolution mechanism.

The United Nations welcomed Indonesia's proposal to build a regional peacekeeping force and promised to provide assistance to make it a reality.

"From the UN's point of view, we welcome the initiative (ASEAN peacekeeping force) and we also welcome all such initiatives in various regions in the world," Danilo Tuerk, assistant to the UN secretary-general for political affairs, said in Jakarta last month.

Another of Indonesia's neighbors, the Philippines, gave a positive though not concrete response to Jakarta's peacekeeping force plan.

"This is a very interesting proposal and I look forward to further discussions in the appropriate fora. It is a fact that at different and limited levels, we have deployed troops, whether bilaterally or through the United Nations to each others' territories to help address security issues," Philippine Foreign Secretary Delia Albert said in Manila last month.

Thailand's ambassador to Indonesia said his country in principle agreed with the action plan for an ASEAN peacekeeping force.

Vietnamese foreign minister Nguyen Dy Nien said it was "too early" to think of setting up a peacekeeping force.

"Each country has its own policy about politics and the military," Nguyen said in Halong Bay.

Hassan told the gathering that the peacekeeping force must be deployed only with the consent of the country in which the force would be deployed. It would not be a form of interference from outside.

The other ASEAN members have yet to endorse the peacekeeping proposal, which is expected to be discussed formally in June at ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in late July in Jakarta.