Vietnam's entry helps fulfill ASEAN goal: Alatas

By Oei Eng Goan

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Indonesia considers the entry of Vietnam into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) today as a momentous event, attesting to the growing realization of ASEAN's vision of embracing all countries in the region.

"Indonesia has always had this dream of achieving one Southeast Asia, not two Southeast Asias which are at loggerheads with one another," Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas told reporters upon arriving in Brunei's capital yesterday for the annual series of ASEAN meetings.

ASEAN has worked hard to achieve the goal of having all countries in Southeast Asia live harmoniously together instead of conflicting with one another, Alatas said.

ASEAN, established in 1967, groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Vietnam is set to become the group's seventh member today in a ceremony to be attended by the foreign ministers of all member countries.

Tomorrow, Brunei ruler Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah will open the 28th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting. This will be followed by the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting on Tuesday, and a series of meetings with ASEAN's main Western trading partners on Wednesday.

Joining the ASEAN ministers in these later meetings are their counterparts from the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, China and the European Union.

Alatas said the 28th ministerial meeting was important not only because of the extension of ASEAN's membership, but also because Cambodia is now an observer after the Phnom Penh government acceded to the ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Acknowledging the treaty is a precondition for observer status and eventual full membership in the organization.

"Myanmar is also interested to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. I think all these facts attest to the growing realization and materialization of the vision that our founding fathers had of ASEAN eventually becoming a 10-nation association, encompassing all of the Southeast Asian countries," Alatas said.

The other country in Southeast Asia is Laos.

Asked if Myanmar could soon become a member of the group now that the Yangon regime has released opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, Alatas said that Myanmar had to fulfill certain requirements before becoming a member of ASEAN.

"Myanmar has now applied to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Probably it would also want to become an observer. But to become an observer, that requires certain procedures, and then after that a membership question arises," Alatas said.

He noted however that the release of Suu Kyi reflected Myanmar's political, social and economic reform efforts.

Another important issue that will be discussed at this weekend's meeting are the disputes over the oil-rich Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

Alatas said the ASEAN ministers will also discuss the problems in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"Indonesia's stand on the issue has been made quite clear on many occasions, both as a Non-Aligned country as well as a member of the Organization of Islamic Conferences... We condemned what has been happening these last few weeks, especially the atrocious killing of civilians, the ethnic cleansing, the holding of hostages and the killing of UNPROFOR personnel," Alatas said.

"And now we have also condemned the brazen attacks on safe areas. We have been deeply disappointed at the inability of the international community, especially the major powers at the Security Council, to provide an effective answer to this problem."

He said that ASEAN is appalled at the way an internationally recognize independent republic had been overrun by force.

"We fully agree with a call to lift what we believe to be a completely ill-conceived arms embargo on Bosnia-Herzegovina," he said.