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When
leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
hold their annual summit in Singapore next week, they will
sign the Asean Charter, which will “relaunch” the
10-nation grouping into a rules-based organization with a
legal personality to better equip it to meet the
challenges of tougher competition and the development gap
among its member-nations, as well as to reinforce its
relevance and influence in the region.
But even
before the new charter could be officially unveiled, some
groups have expressed concerns that such ideals may be
locked in paper. They complained that civil-society groups
in the region were not consulted on the document, which
Asean leaders have touted to be the “People’s Charter.”
Over 200
participants at the third Asean + Civil Society Conference
held in Singapore in early November have demanded the
postponement of the signing of the charter until the Asean
successfully resolves the political crisis in Myanmar,
also called Burma. They also want the document to be first
subjected to a referendum in each member-state to ensure
that any signing could be preceded by “meaningful public
consultation and discussion” as it would ultimately affect
the people of the region.
Only then,
they said, can Asean claim to represent “one caring and
sharing community.”
The
High-Level Task Force (HLTF), which worked on the document
for two years, finalized the draft charter on October 20.
A copy of the 31-page document was first posted on the Web
on November 7 by Thai online daily Prachatai, which
obtained the document when it was submitted to the Thai
National Legislative Assembly for ratification in
accordance with the Thai constitution.
The draft
Asean Charter is being criticized as a watered-down
version of the blueprint submitted by the Eminent Person’s
Group, which had proposed radical provisions, such as the
suspension and even expulsion “in exceptional
circumstances” of members who commit “serious breaches of
Asean’s objectives, principles and commitments on
important agreements.”
‘People-oriented’
During a
pre-Asean Summit news briefing on Wednesday, Ambassador
Rosario Manalo, the Philippines’ special envoy to the HLTF,
sought to clarify some misperceptions about the landmark
charter, which she described as a “visionary and inspiring
document” that is “flexible and enduring” and
“people-oriented.”
She
scoffed at allegations that civil-society groups were not
consulted on the document, saying they did not heed
invitations to a meeting.
In the
final draft, the 10 member-states vow to adhere to the
principles of noninterference in each other’s internal
affairs; and to observe “respect for the right of every
member-state to lead its national existence free from
external interference, subversion and coercion.”
The Asean
Charter also declares as among its guiding principles
democracy, the rule of law and good governance, and
respect for the protection of human rights and fundamental
freedoms, as well as renunciation of aggression and of the
threat or use of force or other actions in any manner
inconsistent with international law.
They also
pledged to keep the region free from nuclear weapons and
other weapons of mass destruction and to create a stable
and highly competitive single market.
The draft
charter retains the “Asean way” of decision-making—through
consultation and consensus—but this time, when consensus
fails, a “specific decision” would be hammered out during
the Asean Summit, which will now be held twice annually
and convened whenever necessary as special or ad hoc
meetings.
The Asean
Summit would also tackle a serious breach of the charter
or noncompliance, but does not refer to any specific
sanctions that some groups believe should have been
included as a deterrent.
Myanmar’s case
Manalo
said that contrary to criticism, the Asean Charter is
strong enough to deal with errant member-states that stray
away from its avowed principles, even without specifying
punitive action or threatening expulsion.
When asked
how the charter would effectively deal with the situation
in Myanmar, she cited provisions on compliance with
obligations in the charter.
“There are
provisions on the peaceful settlement of disputes through
mechanisms. Compliance with what are the purposes,
principles and objectives of the charter must be observed
by Myanmar,” she said.
If Myanmar
fails to do so, the foreign ministers, and eventually the
heads of state, will decide how to deal with it without
violating the principle of noninterference.
“While
there is the noninterference principle, which is a basic
principle we never can get rid of because we are sovereign
states, it is further qualified by the provisions that
very clearly state that we respect and promote
international law. If
Myanmar
is talking with the partners, is that interference? It’s
just dialogue. So where’s the issue?” she said.
Manalo
said the HLTF saw no need to provide for expulsion in the
charter consistent with the vision of an Asean
“community,” but such action is not ruled out, either.
“What can
stop the heads of state if they agree to expel, with or
without a provision in the charter? You don’t have to have
it in the charter to expel. It’s up to the heads of state
to decide. They are leaders....They can do as they
please,” she said.
Human-rights body
The Asean
Charter would have to be ratified by the individual
countries “as soon as possible,” but is not time-bound to
allow their respective legislative bodies to “do their job
as they see convenient,” Manalo said.
One of the
significant provisions of the draft charter is the
creation of an Asean human-rights body, which will operate
in accordance with the terms of reference still to be
determined by the Asean foreign ministers.
In
announcing the “historic decision” of the Asean foreign
ministers to create the body under the draft Asean Charter
on July 30, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said
it “will show to the world that a people-oriented Asean
truly cares about the rights of its peoples.”
“Having a
human-rights body will give great credibility to Asean and
the Asean Charter,” Romulo said then.
M.C. Abad
Jr., director of the Asean Regional Forum unit of the
Asean Secretariat, said Myanmar’s situation “creates a
problem for Asean both in terms of perception and
reality.”
“On one
hand, Asean is perceived to be either unable or unwilling
to influence the Myanmar rulers in restoring political
normalization in that country. On the other, Asean has not
been able to maximize its full potential in engaging many
important countries and organizations because of their
opposition to dealing with Myanmar even in the context of
Asean as a group,” he said.
He added:
“The first challenges Asean’s policy of noninterference in
the internal affairs of one another, while the second
threatens Asean’s unity and discounts its diplomatic
weight.”
Economic
space
Abad said
another challenge for the Asean is the creation of a
“common and seamless economic space among the 10 countries
having different policies, priorities and problems.”
He
explained that while the “establishment of preferential
tariff within the Asean region at no more than 5 percent
and its eventual elimination is on track, the commitment
to remove nontariff barriers has proved to be more
difficult to achieve.”
“Individual countries need to contend with those who
benefit from the status quo,” Abad said.
He said
that for Asean to “move together and at the same pace on
various challenges, it needs to bridge the different
levels of development and capabilities among its members,
particularly between the founding and newer members.”
Abad noted
that the average GDP per capita of Asean founding members
is about $2,000 while newer members is at $400.
“There is
also a need to bring up institutional and human-resource
capabilities of the latter countries for them to fulfill
their commitments in harmonizing their policies and
processes with the region,” Abad said.
He said
that to address these challenges, Asean is aiming for the
creation of an Asean Economic Community (AEC) by 2015,
which is envisioned to “broaden the base of Asean
integration from the liberalization of trade in goods
[through Afta] to including services, investment and other
factors of production, such as facilitating greater
mobility of capital and skilled labor.”
The AEC—one
of the pillars of the Asean community, along with the
Asean Security Community and the Asean Sociocultural
Community—seeks to establish Asean as a single market and
production base, and translate the diversity within the
region into “opportunities for business complementation.”
Aside from
the challenge of development gaps, Abad said Asean also
faces “formidable competition” from dialogue partners
China and India, which are considered as the “two most
dynamic economies in Asia, if not in the world.”
“Asean has
been negatively affected by the direction of trade and
investment which favor these two major economies with
increasing productivity and purchasing power,” he said.
The
forthcoming Asean Summit, themed “One Asean at the Heart
of Dynamic Asia,” will also focus on environmental issues,
such as transboundary haze pollution caused by forest
fires within the region, the need to develop renewable
sources of energy, and promoting sustainable cities, among
others.
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The Philippine experience
By Mia Gonzalez
Reporter
Earlier
this year, the Philippine Institute for Development
Studies (PIDS) attempted to find out how the Philippines
is coping with Asean’s bid for economic integration.
In April
2007, the Singapore-based Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies published “Closer Trade and Financial Cooperation
in Asean: Issues at the Regional and National Level with
Focus on the Philippines,” which “examines the Philippine
experience with economic reform, particularly in its
attempt to integrate with Asean.”
Authors
Jenny D. Balboa, Erlinda M. Medalla and Josef T. Yap of
PIDS note that despite Philippine efforts to undertake
various reforms in line with its bid to integrate with the
Asean, it “continues to lag behind the larger Asean
economies, particularly with respect to reducing poverty
incidence.”
“The
Philippine experience has shown the importance of having
economic reform supported by strategies to enhance good
governance and strengthen institutions,” the paper said.
The paper
concludes that “despite aggressive trade-liberalization
initiatives, what has been shown is that economic openness
did not necessarily translate to economic opportunities.”
“Lessons
from the Philippine experience established that even with
trade liberalization and compliance to regional economic
cooperation programs, sustained economic development
remained elusive. Despite economic reforms, the
Philippines continues to post a very high unemployment
rate and a relatively high poverty incidence. Moreover, a
dichotomy between the domestic manufacturing sector and
export sector has evolved,” it said.
It also
said market integration through trade reforms alone would
not be enough to meet development goals and narrow
development gaps in the region. Trade cooperation must be
“accompanied by other fundamental macroeconomic strategies
at the national level, particularly sustainable financial
reforms, fiscal consolidation and perhaps a coherent
industrial policy.”
“Moreover,
reforms should be complemented by strategies to integrate
good-governance practices, strengthen support
institutions, infrastructure and adequate
social-development programs that will ensure that gains
from these reforms result into concrete opportunities that
will benefit the people,” it said. |
