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ASEAN CHALLENGE



The Asean challenge: looking beyond the crisis 
22/7/99
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By YAng Razali Kassim 
Call to close ranks to ensure growth into the new millennium 

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AS host of the Asean ministerial meeting, Singapore Foreign Minister S
Jayakumar put a positive spin yesterday to the state of the region. 

"We have had a turbulent yet challenging year. I am happy to note that Asean
has emerged from the financial and economic crisis in better shape than last
year," he said when closing the meeting of senior officials ahead of the
ministerial-level talks later this week. 


Going a step further, the foreign minister noted that while Asean's
reputation and credibility may have been dented, the group's lustre is
"slowly but surely being restored" one year after Manila. 

He was also probably referring to the meeting last year where the region's
top officials agreed to a series of coordinated moves to tackle the turmoil
which began in mid-1997. 

His Thai counterpart, Surin Pitsuwan, put it this way: "We are in a better
shape since the financial crisis (broke out). Last year was one year on,
this year is two years on. I think we are beginning to see signs of a
sustained recovery," Dr Surin said. 

The renewed confidence, the Thai minister added, would be "most important
and most vital" for luring back the many investors who have fled the region
when the Asean economies went down. 

But are Asean nations out of the woods yet? Inside the meeting room
yesterday, Asean officials were clearly still weighed down by apprehensions.
>From what was said, some doubt remains as to how much the region has
actually progressed. 

Thailand's director-general for Asean, Anucha Osathanond, warned: "Asean
should continue to show strong commitment and resolve to combat the regional
economic and financial crisis." 

In other words, there is still much to do. 

Mr Anucha also warned that Asean's place in the next millennium is far from
assured. "Asean would have to continue to be a relevant and significant
organisation in the region, admired and respected by the international
community." 

This no one would dispute, but how? One suggestion came from Philippine
Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon: Close ranks. 


As soon as he arrived, Mr Siazon spoke of "the need for greater coherence".
On economic issues, he called for greater integration of policies and
planning, given the group's "experience of 1997". 

That's surely an oblique way of saying the Asean members did not get their
act together when the crisis first struck. 

Even so, talking up confidence in the region will feature prominently when
Asean's key trading partners arrive this weekend for their annual talks with
the grouping. Dr Surin hinted at this. He said he expected the main trading
partners to express their renewed faith in the area. 

For that, the coming dialogue with the United States, Japan and the European
Union, among others, would be a "very, very important meeting", he said. 

But the fear is: Will the one thing uppermost in their minds still be
Myanmar? 

Host Singapore, which is handing over chairmanship to Thailand, wants
everyone's eyes fixed on the long-term issue: Asean's future. 

There are immediate issues to be resolved, certainly. For one, the disputes
over the Spratlys between Asean members and China and Taiwan, as well as
among fellow members. A Code of Conduct has emerged as a key document to
help keep the peace. 

For another, new tensions between China and Taiwan. The Asean Regional Forum
next week will be a timely platform to defuse the strains, what with the US
also present. 

But the urgent and most critical task remains the tackling of the economic
crisis. What can or will the Asean ministers, together with their dialogue
partners, do to help their fellow economic and finance ministers stay on the
path of regional recovery? 

Beyond this, the hope is that members focus on the big picture: After the
recovery, how do they pull a bigger and more varied Asean into a new phase
of growth in the new millennium -- and in one piece? 

Business Times
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Downer proposes solution to Burma's political standoff 
26/7/99

By CRAIG SKEHAN 
SOUTH-EAST ASIA CORRESPONDENT SINGAPORE, SUNDAY 

Australia will intervene to help break the political stalemate in Burma
between the military regime and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, yesterday floated a series of
proposals during talks in Singapore with the US Secretary of State,
Madeleine Albright. He is to pursue the plan with the Burmese Foreign
Minister, Win Aung, when the pair meet on Wednesday.

While Mr Downer declined to release details of the Australian initiative
before the meeting, sources said political progress in Burma could lead to
increased Australian development assistance.

This follows overtures from the United Nations and hopes that holding out
World Bank funding for impoverished Burma would contribute to breaking the
decade-long deadlock.

Burma's military regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council,
refused to recognise 1990 elections won by Ms Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy and has stated publicly that the country's sovereignty is ``not
for sale''.

But the regime has not closed off scope for dialogue with the UN, the World

Bank and bilateral donors.

Mr Downer told a media conference yesterday in Singapore, where the
Association of South-East Asian Nations is holding talks with neighboring
countries and major powers, that tactics to pressure Burma into political
reforms had so far failed.

He said European sanctions had ``not worked all that well'', United States
investment and other restrictions had ``not borne fruit'' and the ASEAN
policy of so-called constructive engagement ``has not been terribly
successful''.

``Anyway, everybody has got a slightly different policy and none of them
seem to have worked,'' Mr Downer said.

He said ASEAN nations, although reluctant to publicly criticise Burma as a
member of the grouping, wanted to see the military regime ``moving forward''
on issues such as adoption of a new constitution so new elections could be
held.

``I think it must have been two years ago I said it was moving at the speed
of glue running up hill,'' Mr Downer said. ``This year I think I'll use the
word glacial.

``Obviously that is a problem for Burma. And it is a problem other members
of ASEAN would like to feel could be fixed.''

He said he would be making a public statement on his proposals after meeting
the Burmese Foreign Minister.

The Age