Will SARS crisis boost ASEAN's co-responsibility?

Will SARS crisis boost ASEAN's co-responsibility?

Kavi Chongkittaborn, The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
traditionally believe that they can always turn a crisis into an
opportunity. Soon they will find out if this is true when they
meet in an informal summit to discuss the deadly SARS virus in
Bangkok on April 29.

If the summit goes well, as the Thai leaders hope, it could
herald a new beginning of closer cooperation brought on by new
challenges and uncertainties. Since the economic crisis in 1997
the region has been trying to recover from financial turbulence
only to be jolted by a new international environment.

ASEAN leaders thought that they had already had their worse
nightmare: the Bali bombing last October. But the war on Iraq
changed that perception. And within days, as if to rub salt into
the wound, the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS) reached ASEAN's doorstep. Past lessons have taught the
leaders that, as with the SARS virus, ASEAN must work and respond
quickly to contain any mounting crisis.

Over the past months, SARS has already wrecked key ASEAN
economies. Singapore has suffered the most, and the island's
leader has already said that it could be the worse crisis in its
history. Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand
have yet to reveal the extent of the damage the virus has done to
their economies.

This emergency summit, called by Singapore Prime Minister Goh
Chok Tong, was ASEAN's first and took the shortest time to
prepare. Each ASEAN leader is feeling the pinch.

Immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, incident, the Thai
government called for an informal ASEAN summit to discuss and
assess the implications that the terrorist attacks on America
would have for the region. No other member bought the idea.

In its 36-year history, ASEAN has held 12 summits altogether,
four of them informal. Eight were convened in the past 10 years -
a period full of political and economic uncertainties. It was
also a time of enlargement that has been full of anxieties. With
each summit, the ASEAN leaders stressed that their solidarity and
determination had been strengthened to face new challenges.

Before Goh's call for the summit, there were discussions
within ASEAN about whether its troika mechanism could be used so
that only affected countries needed to pay attention.

Since its establishment in 2000, the troika has not been
tested. Despite the desire to do so, the idea was trumped by a
summit. The ASEAN troika, comprising Brunei, Cambodia and
Indonesia, has no SARS victims, so it would be redundant for it
to lead the discussion.

Now a summit has come again with the SARS epidemic. Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said confidently that the summit
would demonstrate to the world that ASEAN was ready to act in
time of crisis and find a common solution.

The Thai officials preparing for the summit are optimistic
that ASEAN countries will be more willing to tackle the deadly
virus in a collective way, agreeing on common guidelines and
measures that would not otherwise be agreed upon in normal times.

The concept of collective responsibility has long been
favoured by the ASEAN leaders, but they have not been able to
implement it in full. Oftentimes they agreed on a common
approach, but when it came to practice, it was hard to implement.
The question of national sovereignty has always come into play.

The grouping's past activities show that when confronted with
a crisis, ASEAN's overall response had been cautious and slow as
member countries weigh their interests.

With the SARS outbreak, the ASEAN way of doing things is no
longer sufficient to cope efficiently with the peril. ASEAN
members cannot drag their feet and wait for a consensus any more.
Singapore, Thailand Vietnam and Malaysia have all quickly come up
with their own preventive measures. Some are more stringent than
others.

With some coordination, these measures could have been in tune
with each other and protected common interests. For instance,
both Thailand and Malaysia could have had consultations before
the former decided to discourage Thais from visiting China and
the latter slapped a ban on entry visas for Chinese tourists.

Beijing is unhappy with this treatment. That explains why
China has been reluctant to join the informal summit, at least
until it has SARS under control in its own back yard.

Taken on the whole, the tourism industry in three ASEAN
countries - Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - has been the
hardest hit. Unfortunately, their lack of cooperation also shows
up their longstanding rivalries. With SARS, tour packages under
the ASEAN banner have been shattered.

It will not take long to find out whether this SARS curse will
turn into a blessing in disguise by promoting collective
responsibility among ASEAN countries, which could eventually
broaden the grouping's cooperation on transnational issues.