The Phnom Penh meeting

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen opened on Monday the two-day annual foreign ministerial meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phnom Penh. After the meeting, 10 other countries will join ASEAN in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). The guests include the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, North Korea and India.

The detention of Myanmar's political leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the threat of terrorism in the region, Indonesia's demands that her neighbors support the country's territorial integrity regarding Aceh and its war against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the rebellious province featured foremost in the first meeting. Meanwhile, the agenda of ARF will be more dominated by the interests of the non-ASEAN participants, especially the threat of a nuclear-capable North Korea, safe passage in the Strait of Malacca and, of course, terrorism.

In regards with Suu Kyi, we are of the opinion that it is shameful for ASEAN because it has not been able in the last 13 years to convince Myanmar's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) to hand over power to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) overwhelmingly won the last SLORC-supervised general election in 1990.

As influential members of the group -- such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore -- still stick to the outdated principle of non-interference, it appears that only a miracle can save Suu Kyi from her current misery. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has vowed to assure the release Suu Kyi from detention. However, when ASEAN shows so little interest in her release, other countries cannot expect much from Powell's promise.

On Aceh, Indonesia can anticipate strong support from her neighbors because sentiment against terrorism is high in the region, as recently displayed by Thailand and Cambodia, where Muslim terrorists have stepped up operations despite the worldwide antiterrorism campaign. The international community has expressed concern over the increasing piracy in the Strait of Malacca, and the possibility of the war in Aceh spilling over not just to the strait but also to neighboring countries.

Again we must also remind the Indonesian government that peace in Aceh will be determined more by its deeds toward the Acehnese and not by the repeated pledges of support by other countries.

How about the ARF meeting? The role of ASEAN ministers in the meeting will no doubt overshadow those from guest countries. The threat of North Korea's nuclear capability will surely be among the hottest topics discussed in the forum. Despite Powell's repeated assurances, a military solution to deal with Pyongyang cannot be ruled out completely, as was the case with Iraq.

ASEAN and the United States are also expected to endorse a five-point counterterrorism work plan. The list includes the improvement of intelligence and terrorist financing information sharing, and the tackling of the flow of terrorist material, money and people.

We do hope that ASEAN members will be successful in eradicating the roots of terrorism and not just the symptoms of the disease, nor be aimed at merely pleasing the United States. There is also fear that the threat of terrorist could be abused by regional leaders as a pretext to crack down on political opponents.

There are many people who question the relevance of ASEAN due to drastic global changes over the year and the weakening of the country members, and that the ASEAN meetings, from summit to ministerial gatherings, have become more ceremonial than substantial. This opinion should not be lightly shrugged off, because to a certain extent there is some truth to it.

The ASEAN foreign ministers' success to ensure at least the release of Suu Kyi will be a key test of the regional group's credibility, because her party won a democratic general election. She is not just an opposition leader, and her party's win in 1990 was recognized by the military.

We hope that the ASEAN meeting will be able to achieve concrete progress for the sake of ASEAN's prosperity and political stability, and not just produce meaningless papers and high-sounding programs, as alleged by some critics.