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.