Indonesia wants Asean rules to stay

[OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx]

Subject:	Indonesia wants Asean rules to stay
>From:	soba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Soba)
Date:	Sat, 18 Jul 1998 09:19:45 GMT

The Star

Friday, July 17, 1998

Indonesia wants Asean rules to stay

JAKARTA: Indonesia has made it clear, a few days before the start of
an Asean meeting in Manila, that it wants no change to the principles
of consensus decision-making and non-intervention. 

"I urge my colleagues not to make any hasty decisions," Foreign
Minister Ali Alatas said when asked about a proposal by Thailand that
would allow one member of the group to criticise another. 

"Don't risk changing the principles because Indonesia clearly does not
agree," said the veteran diplomat on Tuesday. 

The secretariat of Asean, which since last year has embraced nine
countries -- Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- is based in Jakarta. 

The taboo on intervention and interference in each other's affairs has
for the past two years become more and more controversial in the
corridors of the organisation. 

The issue was aired last week by Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuan,
who said that Asean should be able to discuss sensitive matters
concerning its members in a more "frank and open manner." 

Apart from Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore have made
it known in the past few months that they think the time has come to
give teeth to the association. Its meetings have often been compared
to golf club reunions at which friends assiduously avoid any sensitive
topic that might disrupt the bonhomie. 

With his warning -- which foreign affairs spokesman Gaffar Fadyl was
careful to say was not meant to be confrontational -- Alatas made it
clear that the first Asean meeting after the fall of former president
Suharto should not revise the fundamental principles of an
organisation which Suharto helped build. 

Diplomats say Alatas' worries are partly due to the fact that Jakarta
is renewing its efforts to settle the dragging problem of East Timor. 

Jamsheed Marker, the UN Secretary General's special envoy on East
Timor, was due to arrive in Indonesia yesterday and travel to Dili
where pro-independence demonstrations have been growing in the
post-Suharto atmosphere. 

The resignation of Suharto has given rise to hopes, particularly among
East Timorese, for a settlement through a referendum on
self-determination. --AFP
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