ASEAN , A NUISANCE TO THE ASIA PACI

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: ASEAN , A NUISANCE TO THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION

ASEAN, A NUISANCE TO THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION
******************************************************************
By Julien Moe

14th September 1999

While the Indonesian army is cracking down on the East Timorese who voted
for independence, ASEAN has been busy calling for meetings on haze. The
crisis in Southeast Asia , whether political or economic, should be what
matters to ASEAN, the regional organisation. ASEAN has never responded to
the East Timorese situation. In fact, ASEAN is an organisation that should
cease to exist because instead of helping the region's stability, the
organisation has been a deterring force that hinders the democratic
processes in the region. Burma was about to break free from military
dictatorship. With ASEAN shielding Burma from international criticism, the
generals in Burma have been obviously shored up to repress their own people
for the sake of being in power.

ASEAN holds several meetings a week. Ten meetings are scheduled o be held
this week. How many meetings have produced auspicious results to be achieved
to stabilise the region politically and economically? None so far! 

According to ASEAN, "to accelerate the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), the
Leaders of the ASEAN nations agreed that the six original signatories to the
Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for the
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) - Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - would advance the implementation of
AFTA by one year from 2003 to 2002. They also agreed to achieve a minimum of
90% of their total tariff lines with tariffs of 0-5% by the year 2000, which
would account for 90% of intra-ASEAN trade." There is a political crisis and
chaos  in Indonesia. How does ASEAN imagine to achieve these goals when one
of the target nations is having an upheaval?

The human rigts situation in Burma is deteriorating and ASEAN is still
holding to its status quo policies of non-interference and citizens of
Indonesia and Burma are suffering miserably under the brutal military
regimes. Silence is not golden but it is a crack that will tear down the
regional group's credibility and its current policies that go nowhere but
make member nations stay a few strides in terms of political reforms..
Economic growth can never be sustained if there is no political stability.