Time to change, ASEAN tells Burma
Patrick Walters, Kuala Lumpur
December 13, 2005

ASEAN leaders have delivered their strongest rebuke to Burma, urging the country's military junta to come up with a firm timetable for democratisation.

ASEAN's chairman, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, will travel to Rangoon in the next few weeks to press for faster political reform in Burma and the release from house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Syu Kyi.

While there has been talk among ASEAN officials of expelling Burma from the 10-nation grouping, ASEAN leaders are wary of further isolating the military Government led by General Soe Win. Burma's ruling regime has become a major embarrassment for ASEAN just as it seeks further political and economic integration and adopts a charter aimed at creating a legal framework for the 38-year-old organisation, which has traditionally favoured consensus decision-making.

The Rangoon regime's recent decision to extend Ms Suu Kyi's house arrest for a further six months together with its decision to move its administrative capital to a remote up-country location at Pyinmana proved the last straw for ASEAN members, who have traditionally adhered to a policy of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

Amid growing international pressure for reform, the regime has agreed to accept an ASEAN delegation to monitor political developments inside the country.

ASEAN leader's yesterday agreed to establish a charter which, by focusing on promotion of democratic norms and human rights, will pressure Burma to get serious about change.

Australia has also pressed Burma to get serious about political change, with Alexander Downer meeting his counterpart, Nyan Win, in Kuala Lumpur at the weekend.

The Foreign Minister said Rangoon had made no progress in its so-called road map to democracy and the situation was like getting "glue to flow uphill".

The move to an ASEAN charter approved at yesterday's summit is designed to serve as a legal and institutional framework for the organisation, which has traditionally resisted formal rules-based structures. It affirms that promotion of democracy, human rights, transparency and good governance will be core goals for ASEAN.

Opening the ASEAN leaders summit yesterday, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said he hoped the "ASEAN Plus Three" process would remain the key to any future East Asian Community. ASEAN Plus Three includes the ASEAN 10 plus China, Japan and Korea, as distinct from the East Asia Summit, which will group 16 nations including Australia, New Zealand and India.

ASEAN remains divided over the future direction of the East Asia Summit, with Malaysia not wanting the larger inaugural summit, which convenes tomorrow, to become an annual event that could mean ASEAN loses its driving influence over the emerging regional architecture.

"Although the genesis of the EAS is from the ASEAN Plus Three process, clearly the EAS that we will convene is different from the one we envisaged last year in Vientiane," Dr Abdullah told ASEAN leaders.

He said both the EAS and the ASEAN Plus Three forums could play complementary roles in community building.

Dr Abdullah said terrorism remained a major regional threat despite the demise of Jemaah Islamiah mastermind Azahari Husein, adding that ASEAN expected to sign a counter-terrorism convention next year.

Malaysia, as host of the East Asia Summit, had proposed that co-operation on fighting avian flu be part of the gathering's a key declaration.