Asean takes timid stance

9/05/2011
Bangkok Post

Editorial

At worst, they showed Asean has nothing to offer to members who might think about asking for help to solve contentious issues.

If ever there was a good reason for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the government to keep Asean out of the disagreement with Cambodia, it was on full show during the weekend. The summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was clearly incapable of a credible response to what many are calling a crisis.

The only development, faltering as it was, was a clearly desperate attempt by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take a hand in the problem. The leadership of Asean itself was missing in action. The other seven heads of government were silent.

There has been much talk in recent weeks about how the disagreeable and sometimes violent Thai-Cambodian problem threatens the unity, development and future of Asean. There is an equally valid argument, seldom heard. This is that a vacillating, indecisive Asean is threatening its own future.

In its 43-year history, Asean arguably has a single important foreign policy achievement. That came when Asean's original five members formed a common policy and response to the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.

Since the mid-1980s, Asean has been tested many times. The response to the violence of the Burmese regime against its citizens is a major and continuing failure for Asean. The spats over the disputed islands of the South China Sea have been shunted aside. Asean members have worked together on common policies, particularly trade and social exchanges. But the mettle of a man and of an organisation is measured on their response to serious problems.

Asean's response has generally been pathetic. The group's failure to grasp the significance of the Thai-Cambodian border dispute has been matched by its weak and generally unhelpful response.

Indonesia is the current chairman of Asean. President Yudhoyono and his Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa clearly want to help Thailand and Cambodia to solve their border problem. But their unimaginative approach has not only failed, but has helped to worsen the problem _ such as when Indonesia helped to haul Thailand before the UN Security Council to satisfy the demands of Prime Minister Hun Sen for international propaganda.

The Asean Secretariat has been effectively silenced _ part of the great diplomatic failure rather than an active participant in trying to solve it. This silence may be the greatest regional irony ever. Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan, back when he was Thailand's foreign minister, pressed aggressively for Asean to get actively involved in disputes, problems and abuses by member countries. Under Mr Surin, Thailand's Democrat-led government fought to abandon the policy of non-interference. That was a correct policy, but Thailand lost the opportunity. Today, the Asean Secretariat and member nations cringe at the possibility of getting involved.

Two different problems have become interlinked. The first is how to build the credibility of Asean as an actual regional group, greater than the sum of its parts. There are numerous examples, including the exemplar European Union. The second but now linked problem is a border dispute between key members Thailand and Cambodia, so serious that it has killed many people and displaced tens of thousands. At best, last week's meetings of foreign ministers and heads of government showed that Asean is extremely timid about approaching the two disagreeing members.

At worst, they showed Asean has nothing to offer to members who might think about asking for help to solve contentious issues.