Members look beyond bloc for solutions
Lilian Budianto , The Jakarta Post , Bangkok Thu, 02/26/2009 2:11 PM World
As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gears up to build an integrated community under the newly adopted ASEAN Charter, its ten member states continue to use bilateral or other regional arrangements to address disputes because of a lack of commonalities.
Many trans-boundary issues within the region of more than half a billion people are solved outside of the ASEAN forum, the latest being the case of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
Myanmar and affected countries have agreed to solve the plight of the Rohingya people under the Bali Process, a 2002 multilateral initiative aimed at increasing cooperation among countries in the Middle East, Asia and Pacific regions.
The plight of the boat people will not be on the agenda at the five-day ASEAN Summit this weekend in Hua Hin, Thailand, and any discussion about it during the summit will be addressed during informal talks only, Thailand's director general for ASEAN affairs Vitavas Srivihok said.
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said the diversity in the values, norms and standards among the member states meant a great reluctance to discuss sensitive matters under the ASEAN forum.
"We are not like the European Union. In Europe you have to have certain commonalities and standards in politics and economics to move as a unit. In ASEAN, as long as you are in Southeast Asia, you are qualified," Surin said during a recent interview.
ASEAN member countries have different political realities - ranging from military-ruled Myanmar and communist Vietnam to capitalist Singapore and democratic Indonesia and the Philippines. When the issue of bilateralism comes up, ASEAN will ask members whether they want the forum to be involved and whether they want the bloc to mediate.
"Most of the time members states will be reluctant, not because ASEAN is reluctant, but because of the differences between member states. They prefer their own bilateral arrangements," Surin said.
When a border dispute erupted between Thailand and Cambodia last year, the two countries initially resorted to the UN to solve the dispute. It was a slap in the face of the bloc as it happened during the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Singapore last July.
Many have cast doubt over the sustainability of the ASEAN Charter, signed in December 2008, which will see the ten member states living under one roof with the pillars of economic, security and socio-cultural communities.
Under pressure from ASEAN, Cambodia and Thailand subsequently decided to deal with the issue through bilateral agreements. Negotiations of the border dispute, which involves the disputed sovereignty of an ancient Hindu temple, have been stalled as occasional military hostilities along the border continue.
ASEAN was very ready to mediate, but the two parties could not agree on the desired level of involvement or timeframe for its involvement. "What we did was to help behind the scenes, leaders made phone calls and appeals and asked for restraint," Surin said.
Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo said last week there was no reason to bring disputes to multilateral forums if the countries involved could settle their problems bilaterally or utilize international mechanisms with more favorable arrangements.
As the bloc's dispute settlement mechanism - as envisaged under the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation - has not once been used, ASEAN is now working on developing a new mechanism, under the ASEAN Charter.
Singapore and Malaysia went to the UN International Court of Justice to solve their decades-old terrirorial dispute. The ICJ granted the Pedra Branca islands to Singapore in 2008; Malaysia got the Middle Rocks islands.
"We both made our own cases and presented it to the international tribunal. We let them decide and we both agreed to abide by whatever decision was made. It's a good way of solving the dispute, it's de-politized and completely objective and professional and there is no need to worry about accusations that you have sold out your country," he said.
Indonesia has also opted to go to the ICJ to solve its dispute with Malaysia over the Sipadan Ligitan islands. It lost the case in 2002 in a defeat that dealt the government a great blow. Indonesia and Malaysia are still engaged in the bilateral negotiations over the maritime area of Ambalat in the Celebes Sea, which is rich in oil reserves.
Djuhari Oratmangun, the Foreign Ministry's new director general for ASEAN affairs, said that integration of ASEAN was a target that would be achieved gradually by completing the regional mechanism, which members could then turn to confidently to solve disputes.
"ASEAN is now working on developing various mechanisms for member states as options to help them sort through disputes. Many cases, such as the Rohingya boat people, are brought to other forums because of the unavailability of sufficient arrangements within the bloc," he said.
Lilian Budianto , The Jakarta Post , Bangkok Thu, 02/26/2009 2:11 PM World
As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gears up to build an integrated community under the newly adopted ASEAN Charter, its ten member states continue to use bilateral or other regional arrangements to address disputes because of a lack of commonalities.
Many trans-boundary issues within the region of more than half a billion people are solved outside of the ASEAN forum, the latest being the case of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
Myanmar and affected countries have agreed to solve the plight of the Rohingya people under the Bali Process, a 2002 multilateral initiative aimed at increasing cooperation among countries in the Middle East, Asia and Pacific regions.
The plight of the boat people will not be on the agenda at the five-day ASEAN Summit this weekend in Hua Hin, Thailand, and any discussion about it during the summit will be addressed during informal talks only, Thailand's director general for ASEAN affairs Vitavas Srivihok said.
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said the diversity in the values, norms and standards among the member states meant a great reluctance to discuss sensitive matters under the ASEAN forum.
"We are not like the European Union. In Europe you have to have certain commonalities and standards in politics and economics to move as a unit. In ASEAN, as long as you are in Southeast Asia, you are qualified," Surin said during a recent interview.
ASEAN member countries have different political realities - ranging from military-ruled Myanmar and communist Vietnam to capitalist Singapore and democratic Indonesia and the Philippines. When the issue of bilateralism comes up, ASEAN will ask members whether they want the forum to be involved and whether they want the bloc to mediate.
"Most of the time members states will be reluctant, not because ASEAN is reluctant, but because of the differences between member states. They prefer their own bilateral arrangements," Surin said.
When a border dispute erupted between Thailand and Cambodia last year, the two countries initially resorted to the UN to solve the dispute. It was a slap in the face of the bloc as it happened during the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Singapore last July.
Many have cast doubt over the sustainability of the ASEAN Charter, signed in December 2008, which will see the ten member states living under one roof with the pillars of economic, security and socio-cultural communities.
Under pressure from ASEAN, Cambodia and Thailand subsequently decided to deal with the issue through bilateral agreements. Negotiations of the border dispute, which involves the disputed sovereignty of an ancient Hindu temple, have been stalled as occasional military hostilities along the border continue.
ASEAN was very ready to mediate, but the two parties could not agree on the desired level of involvement or timeframe for its involvement. "What we did was to help behind the scenes, leaders made phone calls and appeals and asked for restraint," Surin said.
Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo said last week there was no reason to bring disputes to multilateral forums if the countries involved could settle their problems bilaterally or utilize international mechanisms with more favorable arrangements.
As the bloc's dispute settlement mechanism - as envisaged under the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation - has not once been used, ASEAN is now working on developing a new mechanism, under the ASEAN Charter.
Singapore and Malaysia went to the UN International Court of Justice to solve their decades-old terrirorial dispute. The ICJ granted the Pedra Branca islands to Singapore in 2008; Malaysia got the Middle Rocks islands.
"We both made our own cases and presented it to the international tribunal. We let them decide and we both agreed to abide by whatever decision was made. It's a good way of solving the dispute, it's de-politized and completely objective and professional and there is no need to worry about accusations that you have sold out your country," he said.
Indonesia has also opted to go to the ICJ to solve its dispute with Malaysia over the Sipadan Ligitan islands. It lost the case in 2002 in a defeat that dealt the government a great blow. Indonesia and Malaysia are still engaged in the bilateral negotiations over the maritime area of Ambalat in the Celebes Sea, which is rich in oil reserves.
Djuhari Oratmangun, the Foreign Ministry's new director general for ASEAN affairs, said that integration of ASEAN was a target that would be achieved gradually by completing the regional mechanism, which members could then turn to confidently to solve disputes.
"ASEAN is now working on developing various mechanisms for member states as options to help them sort through disputes. Many cases, such as the Rohingya boat people, are brought to other forums because of the unavailability of sufficient arrangements within the bloc," he said.
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