Democracy in Asia.

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				Democracy in Asia
				*****************


                         Friday, July 25, 1997; Page A22
                         The Washington Post 

                         SECRETARY OF State Madeleine Albright will spend 
			the
                         next few days in Malaysia, meeting with her 
			counterparts from
                         the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 
			ASEAN was
                         planning to celebrate its 30th anniversary and 
			the admission of
                         three new members -- Burma, Laos and Cambodia. 
			But a
                         recent coup in Cambodia and continuing 
			repression in Burma
                         are souring the mood.

                         ASEAN has long held to a policy of 
			non-interference in the
                         affairs of its members and prospective members. 
			But the July 5
                         coup by Cambodia strongman Hun Sen shocked the
                         organization into abandoning that approach. 
			ASEAN this week
                         admitted Burma and Laos, but postponed 
			Cambodia's entry
                         while sending mediators to seek a restoration of 
			some
                         semblance of democracy.

                         This policy change reflects an important new 
			understanding that
                         the United States, too, is coming to, though 
			fitfully: that a
                         dictatorship in one country is destabilizing to 
			neighbors, and
                         that world and regional stability depend on the 
			spread of
                         openness and tolerance. In Southeast Asia, 
			Burma's policy of
                         slave labor forces refugees into Thailand and 
			Bangladesh; the
                         narco-thug connections of regimes in both Burma and
                         Cambodia spill over into other Asian nations; 
			their instability
                         and corruption discourage investment throughout 
			the region.
                         No wonder Malaysia's deputy premier, Anwar Ibrahim,
                         recently called on ASEAN to consider a policy of 
			"constructive
                         interventions."

                         Making these effective requires flexible 
			approach\es. In
                         Cambodia, Hun Sen will soon seek to legitimate 
			his coup by
                         convening the National Assembly, which, duly 
			cowed by the
                         butchery of officials opposed to his regime, 
			will name a new
                         puppet prime minister. Japan, sadly, seems ready 
			to accept this
                         constitutional fig leaf and resume aid to the 
			government,
                         sending a wrong signal not only to Hun Sen but 
			to any other
                         would-be usurper. The United States is right to 
			insist on a
                         return of real democracy and a guarantee of free 
			elections next
                         May before resuming aid.

                         Burma's regime is as illegitimate as Cambodia's, 
			the only
                         difference being that it has held power 
			unlawfully already for
                         seven years. Why ASEAN admitted Burma but not 
			Cambodia
                         is unclear; having done so, it has an obligation 
			to promote a
                         dialogue between Burma's junta and its rightful 
			leader, Aung
                         San Suu Kyi.

                         The nine ASEAN nations range from Philippine 
			democracy to
                         Vietnam's creaking Communist dictatorship. But 
			all increasingly
                         depend for their prosperity on investment and 
			trade, open
                         borders and open minds. The Philippines' foreign 
			secretary,
                         Domingo Siazon, reflected this when he told the 
			International
                         Herald Tribune that ASEAN must not neglect the 
			"moral and
                         human" dimension as it expands -- the values of 
			"tolerance,
                         patience, openness and consensus-building." 
			Those are the
                         values now threatened by corrupt tyrants in 
			Burma and
                         Cambodia. 

			(Washington Post, 25 July 1997)	

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