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NEWS - Rights Group Demands ASEAN A
NOTE: The military dictatorships in Indonesia, Burma, et.al. are cowards
and have no integrity. The grown-up children with guns and bombs refuse
to let anyone say that they are wrong! In some cases, surrender will
never be an issue. They will hold on until they are dead or the country
dies. Japan at the end of WWII was like that. (Many military factions
were like that.)
Rights Group Demands ASEAN Act on Members' Records
Reuters
24-JUL-98
BANGKOK, July 24 (Reuters)- U.S.-based Human Rights Watch
urged
ASEAN on Friday to take quick action to improve the poor
human rights and
political records of Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia.
The meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations
foreign ministers in
Manila this weekend should act by dropping the group's
long-standing
practice of adopting decisions through consensus, the group
said in a
statement obtained by Reuters.
``ASEAN can no longer afford to hide behind consensus as a
way of
avoiding political questions with wider regional
implications,'' said Mike
Jendrzejezyk, Washington-based director of Human Rights
Watch's Asia
division.
ASEAN groups Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the
Philippines,
Brunei, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. Cambodia's application to
join ASEAN
was delayed after second prime minister Hun Sen deposed his
co-premier
Prince Norodom Ranariddh in a coup last July.
Human Rights Watch said some ASEAN members like Indonesia,
Myanmar,
Laos and Vietnam, had expressed alarm at attempts to move
away from
consultation and consensus within the grouping.
These countries were clearly worried that a shift in
approach would increase
pressure for internal change, the statement said.
Touching on Sunday's Cambodian elections, Human Rights Watch
called on
ASEAN to refrain from making a decision on the country's bid
for
membership until it was clear the polls were free and fair,
leading to a
peaceful transition without violence and intimidation.
``ASEAN, China and others should make it clear in any
statement issued in
Manila that they will withhold government-to-government aid
and a decision
on Cambodia's seat at the UN General Assembly until a
legitimate elected
government is installed,'' it said.
On Myanmar, the group proposed that ASEAN assign an envoy to
mediate
conflicts between the ruling military junta in Yangon, the
opposition led by
Aung San Suu Kyi, and the diverse ethnic minority forces.
It said the ASEAN envoy should seek ``to explore how the
recommendations
of the UN Commission for Human Rights could be implemented,
including
release of political prisoners, an end to forced labour, and
opening of
political dialogue.''
Human Rights Watch also said ASEAN should persuade the new
government
of Indonesian President Habibie to take concrete moves to
allay the fears of
ethnic Chinese, by repealing discriminatory laws and
regulations and
ensuring that acts of violence against ethnic Chinese were
investigated and
punished.
``ASEAN's credibility is at stake. Can it effectively
address the crises in
Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia? Now that an open debate has
begun
within ASEAN on constructive engagement, how ASEAN handles
these
issues will be a test of its commitment to human rights,''
Jendrzejezyk said.
Thailand's proposal for ``flexible engagement,'' which would
encourage
ASEAN members to openly discuss each other's problems, was
shot down
overnight by ASEAN foreign ministers at a meeting in Manila.
The ministers, instead, reaffirmed ASEAN's policy of
non-interference in
each other's internal affairs following opposition to the
Thai proposal from
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.