Welcoming ASEAN's newest member

Welcoming ASEAN's newest member

While Vietnam's admission into the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) has brought the regional organization a
step closer to its ideals, some remaining shadows deserve to be
heeded. In the following article political analyst Dewi Fortuna
Anwar takes a look at the issue.

JAKARTA (JP): Congratulations are in order as ASEAN officially
welcomes its newest member into its regional club. The last time
a new member joined ASEAN was more than a decade ago, when Brunei
became the sixth member of the association in 1984.

But the present expansion of ASEAN's membership is clearly
much more significant. There was never any doubt that Brunei
would become part of ASEAN once it obtained full independence.
With Vietnam it is a very different story.

One still remembers how Vietnam turned down the ASEAN
invitation in 1975, for the former regarded the latter as nothing
more than an American ally, and therefore an adversary of Hanoi.

The widening of ASEAN to include Vietnam, the second most
populated Southeast Asian country, puts a final seal on the Cold
War coffin. Before too long all 10 Southeast Asian countries will
gather under the ASEAN umbrella.

Cambodia becomes the ninth Southeast Asian country to accede
to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, making
that country an observer of ASEAN, and a full member of the ASEAN
Regional Forum.

Myanmar is gradually also knocking on ASEAN's door. The recent
release of the democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi by the SLORC is
seen by analysts as a clear move by that country's authority to
gain admittance into the ASEAN gatherings.

This overwhelming region-wide acceptance of ASEAN is clear
proof of the association's vitality and increasing regional
importance. The fear that ASEAN may lose steam in the aftermath
of the Cold War has been proved groundless. ASEAN is now regarded
as a congenial home not only by "like-minded" states of Southeast
Asia, but also by the "non-like-minded" ones.

ASEAN's success in promoting regional cooperation and enduring
regional peace and stability and in carrying out regional
rehabilitation have all added to the association's regional and
international stature. These have enabled ASEAN to play a leading
role in promoting regional dialogues on security for the wider
Asia Pacific area.

The launching of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Bangkok last year
has added a feather to ASEAN's cap. It is certainly quite a feat
for a group of militant member states with mostly developing
economies to play such a strategic role in multilateral security
dialogs, involving such heavyweights as the United States, China,
Japan and Russia.

The association's achievements in the political and security
fields are now also beginning to be accompanied by similar
successes in the economic area. After two decades of false
starts, the ASEAN countries have finally agreed to the creation
of an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) by 2003. Even Vietnam has
agreed to sign on the AFTA by January 1996, though its full
participation in AFTA will be delayed by three years.

All of these show that ASEAN is undertaking the process of
widening and deepening at the same time with some success.
Nevertheless, amid the celebration, some shadows are lurking. The
recent very public fracas between the Philippines and Singapore
has left a bitter taste in one's mouth. There are also a host of
other minor bilateral disputes and disagreements which continue
to crop up and lead to some strains in relations among the ASEAN
countries.

Although none of the bilateral disputes are considered serious
enough to endanger bilateral ties and jeopardize ASEAN's
cohesiveness, with the possible exception of the recent
Philippines-Singapore dispute, they cannot simply be dismissed as
completely insignificant. The continuing existence of those
bilateral problems has hampered ASEAN's development into a full-
fledged security community.

It is clearly imperative that in pursuing regional programs,
and in promoting overall regional peace and stability, the ASEAN
countries do not forget to nurture the parts that make the whole.
With the success of ASEAN, and the general confidence that ASEAN
countries cannot really go to war against each other, we may be
taking bilateral ties for granted.

The recent regrettable incident between Manila and Singapore
should wake us up to the realization of the continuing importance
of strengthening bilateral relationships among all of the ASEAN
countries. After all, the chain is only as strong as its weakest
link.

Another lurking shadow is ASEAN's stance regarding the issues
of democratization and human rights. ASEAN's constructive
engagement of Myanmar shows the former's tolerance and non-
confrontational attitude. Vietnam's full membership of ASEAN,
while still retaining its communist political system, is another
proof of ASEAN's tolerance of regional political differences and
plurality. It is regrettable, however, that the ASEAN governments
are not generally as tolerant of political plurality in the
domestic context.