Sifting schizoid ASEAN's reality
from rhetoric By Stanley A
Weiss
Prepare yourself for a debilitating
bout of schizophrenia this week as leaders from
across Southeast Asia meet in Singapore to mark
the 40th anniversary of their Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
If you
believe the summit speeches, the 10-member ASEAN
is the world's most successful regional bloc,
aside from the European Union, having fostered the
stability that fueled the region's phenomenal
economic growth in recent decades. It will
be a
"historic moment" as presidents and prime
ministers sign their "landmark" charter - a "bold
and visionary regional constitution" committing
their nations to democracy, the rule of law and
human rights. (ASEAN comprises Thailand, Malaysia,
Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar,
Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Brunei.)
If
you believe the critics, ASEAN is at best a
toothless talk shop where diplomats are reduced,
literally, to song and dance routines; at worst,
an apologist for oppressive regimes because its
beloved "ASEAN Way" puts dialogue, consensus and
non-interference above decision-making, compliance
and adherence to universal rights. The idealistic
charter, like ASEAN itself, is made a mockery by
the inclusion of monk-crushing Myanmar, not to
mention communist Vietnam, military-ruled Thailand
and the absolute monarchy of Brunei.
Who
to believe? Actually, both - and neither. And
perhaps no one knows this better than Surin
Pitsuwan, the former Thai foreign minister and
ASEAN's next secretary general. "We welcome all
and threaten none," he recently told this author
in Washington during an exclusive interview. "And
therein lies the paradox. ASEAN's weakness and
informality is its strength. But to move further,
it will need a lot of power and resources."
An ASEAN veteran - the ebullient
58-year-old diplomat was instrumental in securing
Asian peacekeepers for East Timor - Surin agrees
that the new charter is "what it can be at this
moment in time". But citing the "economic
pressures" of globalization and "fierce
competition" from China and India, he says
bluntly, "ASEAN will have to adapt and readjust."
Indeed, comparing the charter's lofty
rhetoric against the realities of ASEAN at 40
years old reveals a region that is either
experiencing a mid-life crisis or finally coming
of age. Culturally, the new charter proclaims
Southeast Asia to be a single "community" united
by "one vision, one identity". But given the
extraordinary diversity of the region's 577
million people - Muslim-majority Indonesia,
Malaysia and Brunei; Buddhist-majority Thailand,
Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos; Christian-majority
Philippines - forging a common sense of community
will as ever be no easy task.
People "must
develop a dual identity of being a national of a
member state and an ASEAN citizen", says Surin, a
Muslim and intellectual from southern Thailand who
has called for reconciliation to end his
homeland's separatist Muslim insurgency. "Without
a sense of belonging, economic and security
cooperation will not get anywhere."
Politically, the region's leaders also
seem torn between country and community. The
"fundamental importance" of "sovereignty" and
"non-interference" still comes before any talk of
ensuring democracy in their new charter. They
pledge to create a "human rights body" and to deal
with any "serious breach" of ASEAN rules, but they
leave the details of enforcement for later and
make no mention of sanctioning or expelling errant
members.
And yet ASEAN is evolving,
increasingly flexing its diplomatic muscle on one
another's domestic matters - from the Cambodian
political crisis a decade ago, to the Indonesian
deforestation fires that frequently choke the
region in haze, to the recent Myanmar crackdown on
street demonstrators, over which it expressed
"revulsion", an unprecedented rebuke to a member
state. "ASEAN has abandoned a strict application
of the non-interference principle for some time,"
says former Indonesian foreign minister Ali
Alatas, who helped draft ideas for the new
charter, which he says "further recalibrates the
non-interference principle".
Myanmar will
remain the litmus test for how much the
organization is willing to recalibrate - if and
how it can maintain both regional unity and
international legitimacy. "[Myanmar] is a drag on
ASEAN and they recognize it as such," a senior
American diplomat in the region told this author.
"But they have a dilemma. They don't want to cast
[Myanmar] adrift to become a satellite of China."
Economically, the region needs to get
serious about its ambitious goal of an EU-like
"single market" by 2015. Most immediately,
protectionist tariffs and import duties - which
have kept trade among ASEAN members at a fraction
of its trade with the rest of the world - must be
eliminated.
At the same time, the region
must narrow the huge gaps between rich (Singapore
per capita income: US$29,500), poor (Indonesia:
$1,600) and poorest (Myanmar: $200) and between
the manufacturing-heavy economies of Malaysia,
Philippines and Thailand and agricultural-based
Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. "These gaps are a
challenge to a single, integrated community," says
Surin. "We must get serious about helping one
another."
And the stakes couldn't be
higher. "The road to reconciliation between the
West and the Muslim world runs through Southeast
Asia," argues Surin, noting that more than half
the region's population will soon be Muslim. "We
have to try to keep them moderate, accommodating,
progressive and constructively engaged with the
outside world."
And so while the ASEAN way
may frustrate its critics, it remains for these
diverse countries trying to move forward the only
way. "From the outside, you can wish for a lot,"
says Surin. "Idealism serves us well as a
benchmark to aim at, but realism is the stuff of
our daily work. We must make the best of what we
have and try to improve it for tomorrow." Put
another way, if life truly begins at 40, then
ASEAN is just getting started.
Stanley A Weiss is founding
chairman of Business Executives for National
Security, a nonpartisan organization based in
Washington DC. This article is a personal
comment.
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