RI's ASEAN peacekeeping force initiative gets big boost

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.