ASEAN MUST KEEP TALKING IN TOUGH TI

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

19980804 
Asean must keep talking in tough times 

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By Ronnie Lim 
IT is remarkable -- cynics may even call it hypocritical -- that amidst all
the angry rhetoric among various Asean member countries, no less than four
Asean meetings were held in the last fortnight. Significantly, three of
these meetings were at full ministerial level. 

Given the financial crisis-frayed nerves and political angst that has
resulted, the very fact that senior officials and ministers of "aggrieved"
countries sat down side-by-side to continue discussing regional matters of
route was an achievement in itself. 

Better still, the scheduled Asean meetings even lent opportunity for some to
try to engage in some "quiet diplomacy" -- amidst all the political din --
to try to settle ruffled feathers. 

What were the four meetings? First was the high-profile Asean Ministerial
Meeting (AMM) in Manila from July 24. Coinciding with that was the Asean
investment agencies' meeting (involving people like the Economic Development
Board) in Singapore, which started the same day. 

Then there was the Environment Ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July
30, followed by the Energy Ministers' meeting in Singapore last Saturday. 

All these came in the thick of the on-going political fray between Malaysia
and Singapore. At the same time, the Indonesians have criticised Singapore,
saying bilateral relations were not moving in the right direction. 

The meetings have also taken place as Thailand was feeling the heat of
tension in Myanmar, which resulted in a spillover of refugees and migrants
across its borders. 

The last issue was openly raised at the Manila AMM, where the Thais,
supported by the Philippines, proposed to end Asean's policy of
non-intervention in each other's affairs, but this was rejected by the others. 

Manila also provided the opportunity for Foreign Minister S Jayakumar to
raise with his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Badawi the "hot" issue of
Malaysia's CIQ (customs, immigration and quarantine facilities), following
Singapore's move of its own CIQ to Woodlands from August 1. 

Their discussions came amidst escalating political shouting over the affair,
which would have made a formal bilateral meeting at that stage
diplomatically difficult, if not impossible, to organise. While the CIQ
dispute is not resolved, one would hope that as long as both sides can
continue talking, instead of shouting or, worse still, maintaining a stony
silence, there is hope yet of a resolution. 

In the same vein, following the Asean investment agencies meeting here,
Second Minister for Trade and Industry George Yeo and Indonesia's Investment
Affairs Minister Hamzah Haz, in what was clearly a show of goodwill, jointly
visited the Bintan industrial estate and Batamindo industrial park -- which
were collaborative projects. 

This was clearly meant to allay concerns over the earlier remarks made by
Indonesian State Enterprises Minister Tanri Abeng in June that bilateral
relations were not moving in the right direction. 

Also noteworthy was the fact that following the political transition in
Indonesia, which saw former Vice-President B J Habibie taking over the
presidency, the country's first mega international deal was signed with
Singapore, when a Sembawang Corp-led consortium inked a US$8 billion (S$13.8
billion) deal with Pertamina to buy natural gas from offshore West Natuna. 

The gas deal, as Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told the Asean Energy
Ministers meeting last weekend, was a concrete example of long-term
cooperation within the regional grouping. 

Asean will have to prove its doubters wrong, especially in the face of the
regional crisis, he told the energy ministers, among them Malaysia's deputy
minister, Chan Kong Choy. The region should therefore continue to pursue the
realisation of its free trade and investment area and other strategic
objectives. It must not abandon its vision of free and open trade which has
underpinned prosperity of the region these last few years, he stressed. 

The message bears underlying relevance given the economic and political
pressures among regional countries to close their doors so as to conserve
foreign exchange in the face of the liquidity crunch. Examples include
Myanmar whose recent import restrictions have hurt investors there,
including from Singapore (NTUC Fairprice has had to shut down its
supermarket there as a result); and Malaysia, which is threatening to
legislate measures to force its exporters to ship goods through Malaysian
ports instead of through Singapore. 

Many years ago, during the Iran-Iraq war, I recall attending an Opec forum
for journalists in Manila where the Iraqi and Iranian officials literally
sat side-by-side despite their countries being at each other's throats.
Problems within Asean are nowhere near that situation. Asean talks should
therefore provide that same opportunity for dialogue among member countries
during these difficult times. 

The writer is BT's trade and industry editor