The ASEAN SARS epidemic: Human security versus GDP

The ASEAN SARS epidemic: Human security versus GDP

Kavi Chongkittavorn, The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

When the Association Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders
meet here today (April 29, 2003) to discuss the surveillance,
monitoring and impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome or
Sars, they must make sure that the human security aspect of the
outbreak is their topmost priority. Otherwise, it might be
submerged by all the efforts to pump up economic growth. Sars has
already affected the people in the region as never before seen,
threatening their hopes to lead a normal life.

As the outbreak spread far and wide, ASEAN countries with Sars
victims have come up with their own countermeasures to fight the
epidemic. Singapore has become the world's most stringent nation
as its preventive measures include jail terms for persons who
break their quarantine. The island's health ministry can destroy
goods and premises which are contaminated by the disease and
punish any Sars suspects who put others at risk as well as those
who give false information or refuse to cooperate.

Unlike Singapore and Malaysia, Thailand has chosen a different
path. Bangkok has emphasized business recovery plans to restore
the sudden loss of foreign exchange due to the suddenly sluggish
tourism industry.

Incoming tourists have fallen by almost 50 percent since the
outbreak two months ago, which translates into billions of baht.

Within the region, Thailand is the most vigorous in promoting
discount campaigns, including cheap hotel rooms and tickets to
attract tourists to visit the country. It has become a daily
bargain, a zerosum game at its best.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has come up with publicity
stunts himself, including a visit to Don Muang airport without a
mask during the height of the Sars scare last month. He pledged
to pay two million baht to victims who die of Sars in Thailand.

Now, he wants to declare Thailand as a Sarsfree zone when the
ASEAN leaders are in town to guarantee the safety of tourists and
travelers abroad. His concern is clear: It is all about GDP
growth, which he predicted would be high this year. Populist
policies and his own popularity depend largely on an upwardly
mobile economic index.

So the prime minister is doing everything he can to sustain
this growth level. No one has dared to suggest that his economic
growth forecast for the country would have to be revised. He
wants the Thais to have confidence and travel around spending
money. Senator Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate Foreign
Affair Committee, aptly called this "egotourism".

After Thaksin's trip to the airport, Thai officials have
actually expedited their surveillance as other countries have
strengthened theirs. Fortunately, Thailand only has two fatal
victims, who contracted the deadly disease in Hong Kong. At the
moment, Don Muang Airport is the country's entry point with the
toughest measures of monitoring and imposing quarantines, but
they are seldom implemented in full. Numerous tourists entering
Thailand through other modes of transportation and other entry
points can avoid Sars detection altogether, especially in
Northern Thailand and along the Mekong River.

It is still too early to say how good the Thai surveillance
system against Sars is, despite the government's
selfcongratulatory remarks over the week. Doctors have issued
public warnings that when the rainy season comes, the outbreak of
Sars could expand.It would be wise not to lower our protective
guard against the virus.

Despite their differences, the ASEAN leaders will have an
opportunity to address Sarsrelated issues in a holistic manner.
Human security must be on the top of agenda tomorrow. Without a
healthy and confident population, the economy will be severely
disrupted.

As of now, ASEAN has yet to include concepts of human security
in its official policies. The grouping still views human security
as strictly a domestic domain. Members, especially the new ones,
are reluctant to bring it up within a regional context for fear
of interference from third parties.

Indonesia, the host of the 9th ASEAN summit in Bali this
November, plans to introduce the concept of collective regional
responsibility to strengthen Asian cooperation. The Sars summit
tomorrow will serve as a platform to test this longstanding idea.
ASEAN's lethargic attitude and lack of action have been caused
mainly by voluntarism, since ASEAN cooperation is not legally
binding.

In Bangkok, ASEAN has an excellent opportunity to turn a scary
crisis into a great opportunity for common action. Since ASEAN is
fearful of the epidemic, certain members having suffered more
economically than others, it is still possible for the grouping
to explore maximum measures to forge closer cooperation in an
increasingly volatile world.

In that sense, Sars can serve as a template for future
regional cooperation on such transnational issues as
antinarcotics programs, human smuggling, illegal migrant workers,
HIV/Aids and terrorism.

Though ASEAN has been discussing these problems, concrete
actions have been hard to come by.

The summit outcome will also provide muchneeded impetus for
the stalled Hanoi Plan of Action -- the blueprint of ASEAN's
future agreed in Vietnam in December 1998. The plan is up for
reappraisal next year. Collective regional responsibility can
reinvigorate ASEAN's agreed upon programs into real progress.