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.