Sunday, October 25, 2009

Asian summit off to shaky start

Heads of government and state gather for a photo session after one of the meetings at the Thai resort of Hua Hin. The theme of the summit is "Enhancing Connectivity, Empowering Peoples." (Erik de Castro / AFP/Getty Images / October 24, 2009)

ASEAN gathering is marred by political sparring and criticism of a new rights body.

October 24, 2009
By Charles McDermid and Jakkapun Kaewsangthong
Los Angeles Times

"This was vintage Hun Sen. He sees Abhisit as a young, 45-year-old novice and he wants to test him... This represents all the differences in ASEAN. You have dynamic new leaders and old-time politicians who have dominated the political scenes for decades. Hun Sen represents the old generation -- he's the last of the dinosaurs" - Kavi Chongkittavorn, a leading Thai journalist and former assistant to the secretary-general of ASEAN
Reporting from Hua Hin, Thailand - This year was supposed to be different.

Determined to overcome its reputation as an elite fraternity in which hard issues generally went unmentioned, the 10-member Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations gathered in Thailand over the weekend to welcome the dawn of what Thailand's youthful leader has billed a "new" ASEAN.

Yet even before the annual summit began, political rivalries and festering embarrassments dominated headlines and raised questions about the group's relevance on the evolving world stage -- and its resolve to tackle difficult issues such as poverty and human rights.

Under the banner "Enhancing Connectivity, Empowering Peoples," Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is hosting the first gathering of ASEAN since the 42-year-old group ratified a long-awaited charter late last year. The charter laid the foundation for forming a European Union-like community, without a common currency, by 2015.

"ASEAN used to be a joke," said Kavi Chongkittavorn, a leading Thai journalist and former assistant to the secretary-general of ASEAN. "In the old days, they would get together because they had known each other for years and play golf and talk business. Now it's a different generation, and different language is being used to engage people.

"ASEAN is no longer a joke . . . but they have to catch up to new political concepts, or the whole thing will crumble."

Kavi said the group is divided along ideological and generational lines that have left it polarized on issues such as human rights, political intervention and territorial disputes.

One example is the split between Cambodia's prime minister, former Khmer Rouge commander Hun Sen, and Abhisit, an Oxford-educated economist born in England.

Before arriving at the summit Friday, Hun Sen, the longest-serving leader of an ASEAN nation, sent an unmistakable salvo Abhisit's way by offering political asylum to Thailand's fugitive former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Hun Sen called Thaksin his "eternal friend" and compared him to Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi.

An ASEAN summit in April was abruptly canceled when anti-government protesters aligned with Thaksin smashed through the glass doors of a convention center in the Thai resort of Pattaya, forcing several leaders to be evacuated by helicopter from the roof.

Thaksin, a billionaire telecommunications tycoon, was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006. He skipped bail after an indictment on corruption charges and has been living at various locations -- including Nicaragua, Montenegro and the United Arab Emirates.

Thaksin, who retains wide popularity in Thailand's rural northeast and has vowed to return to power, has consistently mocked Abhisit, saying he is politically immature and heads a shaky coalition.

"This was vintage Hun Sen. He sees Abhisit as a young, 45-year-old novice and he wants to test him," Kavi said. "This represents all the differences in ASEAN. You have dynamic new leaders and old-time politicians who have dominated the political scenes for decades. Hun Sen represents the old generation -- he's the last of the dinosaurs."

Activists from across the region blasted ASEAN's first human rights body, inaugurated Friday, calling it toothless and ineffectual.

Officials had billed the formation of the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights as a watershed event aimed at reining in the alleged human rights abuses of some member states, specifically military-run Myanmar, where an estimated 2,100 political prisoners remain behind bars.

But a civil society group stormed out of a meeting Friday when five of their representatives were rejected by officials from their home countries -- indicative of an ongoing reluctance to face hard questions about human rights.

Longtime Myanmar activist Khin Ohmar, who said she was kicked out of the forum Friday, charged that only representatives handpicked by their governments were allowed to attend the meeting.

"This is the same old story of ASEAN: the same attitude and same behavior toward their own people. There was all this commitment for the new charter and the first human rights commission -- to have this happen is just embarrassing," said Ohmar, coordinator of the Burma Partnership and a member of the ASEAN Task Force on Burma. "This is two steps backward. Why are they so afraid to hear from civil society?"

McDermid and Kaewsangthong are special correspondents.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. ASEAN is still a joke.

2. The arrangement in the photo shot is wrong. Must put Abhist next to Hun Sen.

3. And ASEAN is still a joke and will be irrelevant.

Anonymous said...

Hun Sen and AbShit are two sons of the same bitch.
I definitely prefer our Khmer S.O.B. Hun Sen

Anonymous said...

The philipine girl suppose to ride on Hun Sen shoulder, Ah kwack and Mee kwen...i meant Mee Khley!

Anonymous said...

Maitreya Universal Education Project

http://www.youtube.com/user/maitreyaproject#p/u/0/0eKF5PYAiaA



World's Tallest Statue (BBC)


http://www.youtube.com/user/maitreyaproject#p/u/2/Uh07CBCL7jA

Khmer song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iT09V1Ro44&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrOddarMeanChey#p/u/11/onDjy--ne0o

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrOddarMeanChey#p/u/4/NJeHYGuoLnU

Please, asian come on to support ECCC in Phnom Penh to find out the truth,and who killed 2 153 462 innocent people khmer.

"Ya-Chapi Mulé,Aknu-paTu-Vé,Taklé-tchi tchor PiRukhor ,Punaré-vak,Ruhati ÊvakPi toa-nha Nusayé,Aknu-Haté,NiPoatatey,Tukhak Pi-taing,PonakPo-naing"

"As a tree cut down sprouts forth again if its roots remain uninjured and strong,so the propensity to craving not being done away,this suffering springs up again and again"Lord Buddha

Sincerely Yours!

We think all victim of Communist HO and Mao and Sihanouk need to live in peace.

Anonymous said...

ASEAN is wasting hard earning money of the ASEAN people. I second to the first comment that ASEAN is a joke! A group of idiot never get anything done, they smile and shake hand and yet, while doing so they plotting to harm their own people so that they can stay in power. i.e., look at Thai current politic-it is sideshow-Khmer innocent are being killed daily. A few weeks ago, 16 years old Khmer boy was burned a life by so called black clad Thai soldier( I do not understand why they call these "soldier"?. Are thses thugs created just to kill innocent Khmer? Who are these thug under controlled? With all these genocide taking place, Thai is a chair of ASEAN, trying to chart a human right chapter-ASEAN IS A JOKE INDEED!

Anonymous said...

Since Hun Sen was a Khmer Rouge commander, now a Khmer Rouge leader and had many of his political opponents assassinated, I wonder if he have any plan to assassinate the Thai Prime Minister (Abhisit Vejjajiva)?

Anonymous said...

I wish all political leaders are doing the right things by not taking advantage of the poor nations and moving toward equal opportunity in the name of human race as the 'righteous will live forever and the wicked will be terminated' Bible Proverbs. or Buddha saying " bad karma will occur if one is to take advantage of the other, seek for peace and peace will come forth". Aust

Anonymous said...

ah kwack knew that he cannot be compared to Abhisit. Abhisit is very educated indeed! and ah kwack...is ah kwack for reasons....! do you want me to spell it out? well, you fgure it out...!