Unresolved problem: Myanmar's Prime Minister General Thein Sein (R) accompanied by Foreign Minister U Nyan Win arriving at a hotel in Singapore for a bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the Asean Summit yesterday. Picture: AFP
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
MYANMAR was the catchword of the day, not just amongst the official delegates but more so from the hordes of local and international media, all gathered in Singapore attending the 13th Asean Summit.
From the onset of the four-day gathering, it had been disclosed by Singapore's foreign minister, George Yeo that an invitation had been sent out to UN Special Envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, to attend the third East Asia Summit tomorrow in order to present his report to the East Asian leaders as well as to the heads of the Asean grouping of the situation in Myanmar and the human rights abuses.
It was picked up by the assembled media that Myanmar Prime Minister Thien Sien had protested, behind closed doors, to the other Asean leaders and tried to put a stop to this, which Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo further confirmed that Myanmar had attempted to do so at the last-minute but failed to stop the UN envoy from presenting his findings to the leaders. The Asean Summit in Singapore is being watched with great interest and concern by the rest of the industrialised nations, as they have been applying strong pressure on the 10 member association to send out a strong signal to the military-led junta by either imposing strict economic sanctions or expelling the rogue state from the regional association. In fact, for Singapore's steerage of the chairmanship, much depends on how they will be able to coax Myanmar to toe the Asean line with their adamant stance on diplomatic negotiations rather than a harsher response.
One of the reasons that Myanmar may be anxious about is the fact that the international community has agreed to show a unified stance against the government crackdown on the Saffron Revolution last September and many more have been calling on the advanced powers such as China, Japan and Korea to exercise pressure on Myanmar, through economic and investment measures. Furthermore, new Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is also expected to demand an explanation from his Myanmar counterpart on why a Japanese journalist was shot dead by security forces while covering the demonstrations in Yangon, during their bilateral meeting on tomorrow.
However, one voice of support for Myanmar has been Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who warned an assembled gathering of Asean businessmen and investors that the idea of economic sanctions would not harm the intended target the military regime but the innocent civilians instead. He further noted that he was speaking from personal experience that his country went through and highlighted the unsuccessful results that it produced there.
At a press conference held yesterday afternoon, following the start of the first-day of the 13th Asean Summit high-level meetings, the questions posed were all concentrated on the issue of Asean's sole pariah state. Whenever the deputy permanent secretary at the Singaporean foreign ministry, Andrew Tan, seemed to offer a vague reply, the focus would turn to a more-detailed explanation of the penalty or suspension clauses in the Asean Charter that will be signed and endorsed by the Asean leaders today. But he did appease the media who wanted to extract more information regarding the contradiction that is Myanmar — he confirmed that Myanmar would be one of the main topics of discussion when the leaders first officially gathered for the Asean leaders working dinner last night.
Clad in casual evening attire, most of the Asean leaders, including Brunei's monarch, appeared very relaxed and at ease as they sat down during the informal dinner setting to go through the agenda that they are expected to thrash out all day today.
Whatever the outcome of yesterday's deliberations and dinner, one thing is certain. By endorsing the Asean Charter, the Asean leaders will be accepting the positive move towards a more accountable and assertive rules-based organisation, which has been long-awaited for by most of the 550 million people in the 10 countries. Forty years ago, the Asean way of decision-making by consensus and non-interference in the domestic affairs of each other was the only to achieve a pragmatic approach to the successful bonding and community-building of the association. But now, 40 years on, Asean, its leaders and indeed its people have slowly come to realise and accept that in order to move forward for another 40 years, it must adapt and evolve with the ever-changing times in order to remain true to itself and its people.
The Brunei Times
From the onset of the four-day gathering, it had been disclosed by Singapore's foreign minister, George Yeo that an invitation had been sent out to UN Special Envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, to attend the third East Asia Summit tomorrow in order to present his report to the East Asian leaders as well as to the heads of the Asean grouping of the situation in Myanmar and the human rights abuses.
It was picked up by the assembled media that Myanmar Prime Minister Thien Sien had protested, behind closed doors, to the other Asean leaders and tried to put a stop to this, which Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo further confirmed that Myanmar had attempted to do so at the last-minute but failed to stop the UN envoy from presenting his findings to the leaders. The Asean Summit in Singapore is being watched with great interest and concern by the rest of the industrialised nations, as they have been applying strong pressure on the 10 member association to send out a strong signal to the military-led junta by either imposing strict economic sanctions or expelling the rogue state from the regional association. In fact, for Singapore's steerage of the chairmanship, much depends on how they will be able to coax Myanmar to toe the Asean line with their adamant stance on diplomatic negotiations rather than a harsher response.
One of the reasons that Myanmar may be anxious about is the fact that the international community has agreed to show a unified stance against the government crackdown on the Saffron Revolution last September and many more have been calling on the advanced powers such as China, Japan and Korea to exercise pressure on Myanmar, through economic and investment measures. Furthermore, new Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is also expected to demand an explanation from his Myanmar counterpart on why a Japanese journalist was shot dead by security forces while covering the demonstrations in Yangon, during their bilateral meeting on tomorrow.
However, one voice of support for Myanmar has been Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who warned an assembled gathering of Asean businessmen and investors that the idea of economic sanctions would not harm the intended target the military regime but the innocent civilians instead. He further noted that he was speaking from personal experience that his country went through and highlighted the unsuccessful results that it produced there.
At a press conference held yesterday afternoon, following the start of the first-day of the 13th Asean Summit high-level meetings, the questions posed were all concentrated on the issue of Asean's sole pariah state. Whenever the deputy permanent secretary at the Singaporean foreign ministry, Andrew Tan, seemed to offer a vague reply, the focus would turn to a more-detailed explanation of the penalty or suspension clauses in the Asean Charter that will be signed and endorsed by the Asean leaders today. But he did appease the media who wanted to extract more information regarding the contradiction that is Myanmar — he confirmed that Myanmar would be one of the main topics of discussion when the leaders first officially gathered for the Asean leaders working dinner last night.
Clad in casual evening attire, most of the Asean leaders, including Brunei's monarch, appeared very relaxed and at ease as they sat down during the informal dinner setting to go through the agenda that they are expected to thrash out all day today.
Whatever the outcome of yesterday's deliberations and dinner, one thing is certain. By endorsing the Asean Charter, the Asean leaders will be accepting the positive move towards a more accountable and assertive rules-based organisation, which has been long-awaited for by most of the 550 million people in the 10 countries. Forty years ago, the Asean way of decision-making by consensus and non-interference in the domestic affairs of each other was the only to achieve a pragmatic approach to the successful bonding and community-building of the association. But now, 40 years on, Asean, its leaders and indeed its people have slowly come to realise and accept that in order to move forward for another 40 years, it must adapt and evolve with the ever-changing times in order to remain true to itself and its people.
The Brunei Times