By KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN
The Nation/ANN
Quite a few countries wanted a strong statement from the chair to express concern about the current conditions in Thailand but Vietnam, as the Asean chair, refused to do so.
The ongoing political conflict on Bangkok’s streets and the bloody clashes on April 10 have already rattled the nerves of Asean leaders as they ponder their grouping’s future political landscape.
Last week, Vietnam was quick in wanting to issue a statement on behalf of Asean on the violence. On the same day, Cambodia immediately stepped in, calling for a special Asean summit to discuss the crisis in its eastern neighbour – unprecedented moves. Both plans were aborted.
Naturally, Thailand blocked the chair’s statement. Bangkok felt it was not necessary as the Abhisit government is still in power and continues to handle the crisis in a transparent manner.
Most importantly, Thailand is an open society and the local and foreign media are free to report on the unfolding events on a daily basis. In responding to numerous enquiries, the government reiterated the non-use of forces during the confrontation.
Finally, Vietnam, on it own issued a short statement saying:
“As a neighbouring country of Thailand, a member of Asean and concurrently the chair of Asean, Vietnam follows with great attention the current complicated developments in Thailand. Vietnam wants to see the parties concerned exercise restraint, refrain from violence, and peacefully settle issues through dialogue so as to bring about early stability for Thailand.”
That much was clear.
Within hours, Vietnam also responded to Phnom Penh’s request with a short and crispy message: it is not practical to have such a summit.
Putting the two diplomatic moves together, one wonders the reasons why Vietnam and Cambodia were so eager to highlight the Thai political uncertainty.
Throughout the political quagmire in Myanmar, since its admission in 1997, the two members have yet to play any pro-active role at all.
For instance, at the Hanoi summit, the Asean leaders discussed the situation inside Myanmar, especially the upcoming farcical election. Quite a few countries, including Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, wanted a strong statement from the chair to express “concern” about the current conditions there. But Vietnam as the Asean chair refused to do so.
Therefore, the final statement by the chair contained the lowest denominator of Asean’s positions on Myanmar in a decade.
The statement “underscored” the importance of national reconciliation in Myanmar and the holding of a general election in a free, fair and inclusive manner.
The previous Asean chair’s statement on Myanmar included the call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners (2003).
During the bloodshed in September 2007, Asean expressed revulsion at the violence in Myanmar and the use of weapons in the crackdown against monks and students.
At the Hanoi summit, the leaders told Myanmar that Asean was ready to share its electoral experience to help the country; they could also send observers. But there was no response from Myanmar.
Deep down, Asean would like to see Mynamar carry out a decent election that is acceptable internationally as it would be a boon to the grouping’s credibility as a whole. For the past 13 years, Asean has been suffocating from the family’s rogue member, who is not willing to listen or consider opinions and requests of peers.
Last October, Vietnam and Cambodia (along with Laos and Brunei) did not back Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya’s initiative calling for the pardon and release of Aung San Suu Kyi. After months of lobbying, the planned joint Asean appeal finally fumbled.
Obviously as the Asean chair, Hanoi can take an initiative to reflect on any issue as it sees fit. It must be noted that most of the past Asean joint statements made were mainly on common crisis such as food security, financial crisis and recovery, pandemics, among others.
Such is the dilemma of the 43-year-old rule-based organisation. Political division remains as stark as ever. South-East Asia, now under a single Asean roof, remains the world’s only region that comprises all forms of political systems. They range from absolute to constitutional monarchies, one-party dictatorship to one-party cronyism including various shades of socialism-cum-capitalism.
Whenever a consensus is needed, Asean members take an extraordinary amount of time to decide, especially on sensitive issues.
Amid all these inconsistencies within Asean, there is one bright spot – Indonesia’s democracy, and its further consolidation. The New York-based Freedom House picked Indonesia as the only free country in the region.
On the day Vietnam rejected Cambodia’s request for a summit on the Thai crisis, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was speaking in front of an international gathering of the Sixth Assembly of World Movement for Democracy with over 600 participants from 110 countries in a downtown hotel. It was a vote of confidence for the 12-year-old democracy, the world’s third largest.
In his keynote speech, Susilo declared proudly that democracy in Indonesia is irreversible and a daily fact of life. The home-grown democracy in his country, the president reiterated, showed that democracy and economic development can go hand in hand as it was no longer a zero-sum game.
With the third highest economic growth among G-20 countries, after China and India, Indonesia is confident that its democratic development is on the right track.
Susilo pointed out that the desire to get rid of corruption, collusion and nepotism came wholly from within.
Thailand’s democracy, despite its long 78-year history, is still not taking root and the Philippines continues to struggle to find its own democratic formula.
The Filipino public are hoping that the next election would enable a respectable leader offering good governance to emerge. Just imagine the implications on the Asean political landscape if Thailand and the Philippines overcome their political instability and attain a certain degree of democratic maturity.
Together with Indonesia, they would represent nearly 70% of the Asean population of 595 million. It could be a new benchmark.
It is extremely significant that Jakarta is taking up the Asean chair next year, changing places with Brunei.
First of all, Indonesia’s chair automatically pre-empts Myanmar from resuming its skipped chair in 2005.
The earlier fear was that after the scheduled election and a new government in Myanmar this year, the regime might request Asean to return its chair.
For 2012, Cambodia has already reaffirmed that it would surely stick to the original schedule as the general election is slated for 2013.
Finally, this would allow the grouping’s biggest member to pursue its broad global agenda as the Asean chair. It remains to be seen how Indonesia can balance its global and regional roles.
Jakarta has told Asean that as a member of G-20 it would not be able to speak for Asean, but it can convey the Asean input. Susilo’s second five-year term would witness Indonesia’s enthusiasm on issues pertaining to democracy, international peace-keeping and building, climate change, responsibility to protect and the anti-terrorism campaign.
If Jakarta succeeds, the prestige of Asean will be further augmented worldwide.
The ongoing political conflict on Bangkok’s streets and the bloody clashes on April 10 have already rattled the nerves of Asean leaders as they ponder their grouping’s future political landscape.
Last week, Vietnam was quick in wanting to issue a statement on behalf of Asean on the violence. On the same day, Cambodia immediately stepped in, calling for a special Asean summit to discuss the crisis in its eastern neighbour – unprecedented moves. Both plans were aborted.
Naturally, Thailand blocked the chair’s statement. Bangkok felt it was not necessary as the Abhisit government is still in power and continues to handle the crisis in a transparent manner.
Most importantly, Thailand is an open society and the local and foreign media are free to report on the unfolding events on a daily basis. In responding to numerous enquiries, the government reiterated the non-use of forces during the confrontation.
Finally, Vietnam, on it own issued a short statement saying:
“As a neighbouring country of Thailand, a member of Asean and concurrently the chair of Asean, Vietnam follows with great attention the current complicated developments in Thailand. Vietnam wants to see the parties concerned exercise restraint, refrain from violence, and peacefully settle issues through dialogue so as to bring about early stability for Thailand.”
That much was clear.
Within hours, Vietnam also responded to Phnom Penh’s request with a short and crispy message: it is not practical to have such a summit.
Putting the two diplomatic moves together, one wonders the reasons why Vietnam and Cambodia were so eager to highlight the Thai political uncertainty.
Throughout the political quagmire in Myanmar, since its admission in 1997, the two members have yet to play any pro-active role at all.
For instance, at the Hanoi summit, the Asean leaders discussed the situation inside Myanmar, especially the upcoming farcical election. Quite a few countries, including Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, wanted a strong statement from the chair to express “concern” about the current conditions there. But Vietnam as the Asean chair refused to do so.
Therefore, the final statement by the chair contained the lowest denominator of Asean’s positions on Myanmar in a decade.
The statement “underscored” the importance of national reconciliation in Myanmar and the holding of a general election in a free, fair and inclusive manner.
The previous Asean chair’s statement on Myanmar included the call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners (2003).
During the bloodshed in September 2007, Asean expressed revulsion at the violence in Myanmar and the use of weapons in the crackdown against monks and students.
At the Hanoi summit, the leaders told Myanmar that Asean was ready to share its electoral experience to help the country; they could also send observers. But there was no response from Myanmar.
Deep down, Asean would like to see Mynamar carry out a decent election that is acceptable internationally as it would be a boon to the grouping’s credibility as a whole. For the past 13 years, Asean has been suffocating from the family’s rogue member, who is not willing to listen or consider opinions and requests of peers.
Last October, Vietnam and Cambodia (along with Laos and Brunei) did not back Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya’s initiative calling for the pardon and release of Aung San Suu Kyi. After months of lobbying, the planned joint Asean appeal finally fumbled.
Obviously as the Asean chair, Hanoi can take an initiative to reflect on any issue as it sees fit. It must be noted that most of the past Asean joint statements made were mainly on common crisis such as food security, financial crisis and recovery, pandemics, among others.
Such is the dilemma of the 43-year-old rule-based organisation. Political division remains as stark as ever. South-East Asia, now under a single Asean roof, remains the world’s only region that comprises all forms of political systems. They range from absolute to constitutional monarchies, one-party dictatorship to one-party cronyism including various shades of socialism-cum-capitalism.
Whenever a consensus is needed, Asean members take an extraordinary amount of time to decide, especially on sensitive issues.
Amid all these inconsistencies within Asean, there is one bright spot – Indonesia’s democracy, and its further consolidation. The New York-based Freedom House picked Indonesia as the only free country in the region.
On the day Vietnam rejected Cambodia’s request for a summit on the Thai crisis, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was speaking in front of an international gathering of the Sixth Assembly of World Movement for Democracy with over 600 participants from 110 countries in a downtown hotel. It was a vote of confidence for the 12-year-old democracy, the world’s third largest.
In his keynote speech, Susilo declared proudly that democracy in Indonesia is irreversible and a daily fact of life. The home-grown democracy in his country, the president reiterated, showed that democracy and economic development can go hand in hand as it was no longer a zero-sum game.
With the third highest economic growth among G-20 countries, after China and India, Indonesia is confident that its democratic development is on the right track.
Susilo pointed out that the desire to get rid of corruption, collusion and nepotism came wholly from within.
Thailand’s democracy, despite its long 78-year history, is still not taking root and the Philippines continues to struggle to find its own democratic formula.
The Filipino public are hoping that the next election would enable a respectable leader offering good governance to emerge. Just imagine the implications on the Asean political landscape if Thailand and the Philippines overcome their political instability and attain a certain degree of democratic maturity.
Together with Indonesia, they would represent nearly 70% of the Asean population of 595 million. It could be a new benchmark.
It is extremely significant that Jakarta is taking up the Asean chair next year, changing places with Brunei.
First of all, Indonesia’s chair automatically pre-empts Myanmar from resuming its skipped chair in 2005.
The earlier fear was that after the scheduled election and a new government in Myanmar this year, the regime might request Asean to return its chair.
For 2012, Cambodia has already reaffirmed that it would surely stick to the original schedule as the general election is slated for 2013.
Finally, this would allow the grouping’s biggest member to pursue its broad global agenda as the Asean chair. It remains to be seen how Indonesia can balance its global and regional roles.
Jakarta has told Asean that as a member of G-20 it would not be able to speak for Asean, but it can convey the Asean input. Susilo’s second five-year term would witness Indonesia’s enthusiasm on issues pertaining to democracy, international peace-keeping and building, climate change, responsibility to protect and the anti-terrorism campaign.
If Jakarta succeeds, the prestige of Asean will be further augmented worldwide.
19 comments:
This is ironic that two countries that oppress protests and unrest are Vietnam and the Hun Sen regime of Cambodia. Vietnam has no credibility to lecture on freedom of expression and assembly in Thailand. Vietnam does not tolerate any protest at all, hence Vietnam should shut up and leave the democratic government alone.
I would love to hear the reactions of those democratic countries: namely Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia. Only these can tell Thailand how to conduct its affairs in accordance to the democratic principles.
Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao, Burma, Brunei are dictatorial and not living up to democratic principles.
KHMER Angkor.
Frustrated at home, blasting foes, and, not directly asking for help, but in metaphor flattering the old folk seem unlikely to work effectively.
This is a sign showing Thailand desperately needs help. So take the advise, no matter the sources are from, taking them as a feedback, rather than nothing.
There is only one man in this country to lead. He is Hun Sen. The rest of Cambodian are useless people. Cambodia will falling in war when Hun Sen die.
ex Khmer in Sydney CBD
12:56 PM
You stay outside Cambodia too long then buddy to think Cambodia will collapse when Hun Sen is gone. Out with the old and in with the new is the way it is becoming. There are many educated and competent new waves of people taking up position in the government offices.
So for all you can care about, just worry about paying your taxes on time over there in Sydney. Cambodia will be more then fine without you. Now, don't you come around and be saying things like wow Cambodia is moving forward when you feet foot inside your old country.
If Thai people want to live in peace, first they must eliminate their king before he could make the next move. This king has manipulated the Thai people long enough and it has to stop before million Thai gotten killed by his new regime just like Pol Pot and we don't want them to go through like us because we were stupid to allow our king to rule in which our people been killed by him. we now called him the "killer king". Finally, May god protect all good Thai people and let them live forever and ever. Amen, Wisdom
1:08pm
Khmer race used to killed each other, eat grass, frog, cocrach..... They want to compare Thailand to Cambodia. When they have these day they think they are high. They will see what happen when Hun Sen die.
ex Khmer in Sydney CBD
Dear 1:08pm, dont bother yourself with an idiot 12:56pm. He is just a dinky digging his head to deep in the dug of kingcross. I dont know whether I should call him a dumbo or idiot.
He called himself ex-khmer, while still looking at this website to learn about the development of Cambodia, showing off non-sense idea.
I think Australians would have been more than happy to see him remaining in Cambodia, digging shits for living.
Australia raised him up because wanting him to help his motherland when he can, but he can't because he is just a motherfucker and dumbo crocodile.
eh pouk a khmer chhké youn nis. vea min ches deoung kloun te. anh rot chol srok kor doy sa pouk ah khmer kror korm pol pot ning ah khmer kror horm chhké youn Hun Sen, chea sim ning. pouk ah héng tuk oy a Sen, sim choy kadouy mé ah héng tov, boeur min anchoeung te héng mé ah héng kloun eng tov.
ex Khmer in Sydney CBD
3:09 PM
You can take a man out of the jungle but you can't take the jungle out of the man. This couldn't be any truer for you. No matter where you go in life, how much money you make, how high in social ladder you climb, your barbarian backward hateful mentality will always shine through. I suggest you learn to change your way before people around you start to be driven away because of your bad personality and character.
Just an advise from an uneducated person in a poor country called Cambodia.
3:09 PM
Do you really think calling people youn this and youn that make you look like the bigger man? If it does anything, it just shows that you're desperate and can't even engage in a normal conversation with people whose ideas are different from you.
Like I said, for all you former Khmer, pay your taxes on time over there in Sydney and feed your family should be your priority, not Cambodian affairs. You're an ex Khmer. Stop worrying about Khmer issues. It shouldn't concern you. Concern yourself with Australian issues instead, Mr. Australian.
ex Khmer in Sydney CBD,
Are you running out words in English? You can speak Aussie, if you can't write English.
You call yourself ex-khmer, meaning you are no longer Khmer. How come you are still writing Khmer?
Get the fuck out of here your motherfucker crocodile. Living there for so long, you are still such idiot and dumbo.
youn want to weaken thai political and ecomicomic,and i praise the nation for having time to write shit about other country behavior .siam never give up thier arogent and selfish attitude may be they deserve to be chaose after all.
Hun Sen just acts helpful outside for Thailand but inside he wants Thailand screwing each other so he can sit and watch Thai red and yellow soap opera.
What Vietnam and Hun Sen have done so far are interfering with Thailand's internal affairs. Vietnam thinks that it now has to interfere with Thai's politics, because Vietnam thinks that Vietnam is the sole master of Cambodia and Lao. Hun Sen's behavior against Thailand so far is an act of a pawn to the Vietnam's interests on Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand.
Thailand should watch out for the Vietcongs rather than worrying about the Yuon-pawn Hun Sen.
KHMER Angkor.
@ 3:09 (ex khmer in Sydney). Dear Lok Pou,
I am just a young boy with bad written English. I think many people fled the country during the Khmer Rouge just like you. They might hate Cambodian people(whether he is Pol Pot, Hun Sen or Chea Sim), but they never used ugly words like you. I could not believe that there is a very impolite person like you even you already live and be educated in the Western country. Your action does not save Cambodia at all. It only put us down. I support some friends here that advice you to change your bad personality, especially using rude words when it comes to a debate or discussion like this.
ex Khmer in Sydney CBD you are one sad Cambodian... and a very useless one i might add.
Dear friends, this mindset is in most of Cambodian. Morality in Cambodian society is getting down since after Pol Pot regime. It is not in the mind of young, but also with the top leader of current Cambodian regime. Young generation are treated immorally by their teachers. Travelers are cruelly treated by traffic police and so on.... It show that most Cambodian are adopted the cruelty of Khmer Rough ideology. Khmer have to change the system. I am sure that the Khmer people are good but only the system in Cambodia is not work that give bad image to the world.
8:35am,
What you said may be not always right. Can you see an idiot from Sydney CBD above? He has been in Sydney for so long, unfortunately he remains dumb and uncivilised and no character and substance.
Luckily, he is now there, if he was here in Cambodia, he might have been the most wanted criminal ever seen.
So don't generalise Khmers! Even though they don't have a chance like you living in western worlds, they, of course not all, are civilised, polite, rational and respectfull as others there.
All the troubles in Thailand secretely created by Hanoi.
Hanoi is doing the same as it did in Cambodia and Laos. It took Vietnam for about 500 years to exterminate Khmers in Cambodia, through its new infiltration (Yuon became Khmers carry Khmer ID) but it took Vietnam a very short moment to destroy Thailand.
May be Thai people still see everyone is Thai because everyone can speak fluently Thai. Well Hanoi launched its new strategy by having its own people learn the culture and speak Thai fluently and carried Thai ID just what it's been doing toward Cambodia and Laos. Foreigners like the US close their eyes and some may try to fool the world and say "Conspiracy myth.." Oh yeah?
Hanoi does not allow anyone to protest and never allowed any foreigners to write any news inside Vietnam because it is a highest secret tactics of Communist Vietnam's expansionism.
Thailand is continuing to fall, sooner Vijaralongkorn and his richest Chakri family will have to leave the country; and he won't be able to let his dog to run all over the table licking food that left over from the foreign guests of Thailand and he won't have fun at the whore houses and force his wife to pose nude at the pool party anymore. About at least 2 billion internet users watched his wife nakd at the pool party.
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