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ASEAN Struggles to Change Its Reput



Subject: ASEAN Struggles to Change Its Reputation as Weak, Helpless and

Divided
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Paris, Thursday, April 22, 1999
ASEAN Struggles to Change Its Reputation as Weak, Helpless and Divided

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By Michael Richardson International Herald Tribune
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SINGAPORE - Even as Southeast Asian countries prepare to complete their
formal political unity this month with the admission of Cambodia as a member
of the Association of South East Asian Nations, officials are calling for
new steps to restore the group's credibility.
Weaknesses and tensions have been exposed in ASEAN as a result of its
enlargement and the economic crisis in East Asia, officials and analysts say.

Some members of the group, notably the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia,
are raising human rights issues in other ASEAN countries that were
previously regarded as strictly the internal affairs of the nation concerned.

For example, the first Asian politician to criticize the six-year prison
term given last week to former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of
Malaysia on four corruption charges was President Joseph Estrada of the
Philippines.

The economic crisis, and the popular demand for reform and a better deal for
the poor, brought new governments with a stronger commitment to democracy to
power in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.

Analysts said that the Philippines and Thailand - Southeast Asia's two most
robust democracies - want to spread democratic principles more widely in
ASEAN.

They said that Indonesia, under the weak but reformist government of
President B.J. Habibie, wants to highlight its democratic credentials to get
urgently needed international aid to help the country recover from its worst
recession in more than 30 years. 

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore warned during a recent visit to
Brunei that ASEAN had lost much of its stature in the East Asian crisis. 

''ASEAN as a group is being seen as helpless and, worse, disunited,'' he
said. ''In our summits in 1997 and 1998, we failed to convince the outside
world that ASEAN was tackling the crisis with determination and decisiveness
to regain its high growth.''

ASEAN countries vary greatly in size, systems of government and levels of
economic development. They include Brunei, Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Burma, Laos and Vietnam -
which shunned ASEAN during the Cold War - joined in the past few years and
remain staunchly authoritarian.

The economic crisis and ASEAN's enlargement - which will be complete when
Cambodia joins at a special ceremony in Hanoi on April 30 - are both
contributing to the group's tarnished image and current weakness, analysts
said. 

''Enlargement has increased ASEAN's political and economic diversity,''
wrote Koro Bessho, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official on loan to the
International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, in a report
published recently by the institute. ''Given the organization's principle of
consensus, this will make it hard to reach decisions.'' 

Thai and Philippine officials said the tradition of noninterference in
internal affairs had precluded any effective monitoring of financial and
economic danger signs in member states before the crisis struck. 

As a result, there was no early warning and possible prevention of the
financial turmoil that spread from Thailand in July 1997 to other countries
in the region.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a foreign affairs advisor to President Habibie of
Indonesia, said last month that Southeast Asian countries had grown used to
sweeping problems under the rug. 

Citing widespread criticism of human rights abuses in Burma, and territorial
disputes between association members that needed to be resolved urgently,
she said that the time had come for ASEAN to consider ''creating a real and
effective crisis-management center through which the countries in the region
may seek solutions to the problems'' confronting them.

''ASEAN countries should start discussing security in all its aspects in a
transparent, structured, and balanced manner,'' Ms. Anwar said. ''The
business-as-usual attitude, or ASEAN way of doing business, can no longer be
maintained.''

She added that recent strains in relations between Malaysia and Singapore,
and Indonesia and Singapore, underlined the need for such a forum, saying
that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe might serve as
a model.

Analysts said that some ASEAN countries were likely see this proposal as a
formula for further contention and would prefer instead to leave political
issues on the back burner while concentrating on hastening Southeast Asia's
economic integration.

Prime Minister Goh of Singapore said that the key to recovery was to regain
investor confidence in the region.

''We must adopt practical measures and persuade the developed countries to
be involved in helping ASEAN recover,'' he said. ''One idea is for ASEAN as
a whole to organize joint investment road shows to the United States, Europe
and Japan to sell the region.''

Mr. Goh said that this could be done late this year, after the Indonesian
elections that officials of neighboring countries hope will help restore
stability in ASEAN's largest member.

Mr. Goh said that the association should also encourage more business
missions to the region from the major developed nations and that it should
make sure that the right signals were sent to investors that ASEAN remained
committed to economic liberalization and welcomed foreign capital. 

Rodolfo Severino, the association secretary-general, told a conference in
Canberra last week that by the beginning of 2000, the ASEAN Free Trade Area
would be substantially in place, creating an increasingly barrier-free
market of 500 million consumers to attract investors. 

ASEAN finance ministers and central bankers are also meeting more frequently
to improve surveillance of economic and financial policies in member
countries, he said. 

''What is little known is the fact that the ASEAN governments have begun to
inform one another about their internal policies and reforms, and have
exchanged views on them,'' Mr. Severino said. ''This sharing of information
is motivated not only by the heightened need for transparency; it is also a
mechanism for intensified consultation.'' 



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