By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Nov 21 2007 (IPS)

South-east Asian leaders closed ranks this week behind a view that places a higher premium on protecting the life of the region’s governments, no matter how oppressive they are, than on being accountable to their respective peoples.

This is the message that went out to the region’s 550 million people whose governments belong to the 10-member Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN). On Tuesday, presidents and prime ministers signed a historic charter for ASEAN that aimed to transform the regional bloc into a new rules-based legal body.

The charter that was endorsed at a summit in the affluent city-state of Singapore was the highpoint of celebrations in the region this year to mark the 40th anniversary of ASEAN, an entity that emerged during the Cold War to stall the spread of communism and to strengthen economic ties. The founding members were Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The end of the ‘cold war’ resulted in ASEAN expanding to include Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

ASEAN leaders’ views on Burma, also known as Myanmar, removed all doubts as to whose interests the governments have in mind when they talk about regional unity or the ‘’ASEAN family.’’ The group threw a protective shield around the Burmese military regime, which had come in for international criticism, even from among some ASEAN leaders, for its harsh crackdown of peaceful street protests in late September.

This attempt to placate military strongmen was clarified when the ASEAN charter was unveiled, for the much anticipated regional human rights body expected to have been conceived through this document was only embraced as an idea. References to this body having a mechanism to enforce human rights were absent from the text. Gone also were recommendations that had been made to consider imposing sanctions or even expel a member if grave human rights violations were committed by a regional government.

In doing so, ASEAN revealed that it was sticking to its long-held principles of non-interference in the domestic politics of a fellow member. Consequently, it has raised questions about how meaningful the regional bloc’s makeover is, as reflected in comments made by editorial writers and political activists.

Others were troubled by the lack of a noticeable change from the past, which was seen an essential to make this regional body relevant to the citizens living in the 10 countries. ‘’ASEAN is not sincere about wanting to restructure itself in a manner that embodies democratic values and justice for the people of ASEAN,’’ says Roshan Jason, executive director of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (APIMC), a coalition of parliamentarians from the region campaigning for democracy and human rights in Burma.

‘’It is outrageous that they can have such a watered-down document as the ASEAN charter,’’ he added during a telephone interview from Kuala Lumpur. ‘’This reflects the ASEAN culture of most leaders having absolute power. The views of the leaders do not reflect the broader political culture in the region.’’

And that is true not only for the region’s current political embarrassment, Burma, but for most of the countries in South-east Asia. With the exception of two, Indonesia and the Philippines, they are all plagued with democratic shortcomings. Malaysia and Singapore have one-party states with severe restrictions placed on government critics and opposition parties, while Laos and Vietnam are ruled by communist parties that have little interest in democracy.

Thailand, meanwhile, has been under military regime that came to power following a coup last September, while Cambodia’s struggle to build a democracy is under threat from an increasingly authoritarian government. And Brunei is under the grip of an absolute monarch.

Differences are as stark on the economic front, too, with the city-state of Singapore having all the comforts and conveniences of a developed country against poverty-stricken nations such as Laos and Cambodia. And those in-between, such as Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand, having a sizeable number of rural and urban poor despite steady economic growth.

The need for a charter – which has taken nearly two years to draft by a team of the region’s senior statesmen and bureaucrats – arose as ASEAN desperately sought a new role on the global stage in the post-Cold War era. Besides a political union, the landmark document was deemed essential to strengthen the region against the rise of Asian powers such as India and China.

‘’For the first 40 years, ASEAN was very much a state-focused organisation, dominated by the elite,’’ says Devi Fortuna Anwar, director for programmes and research at The Habibi Centre, a Jakarta-based independent think tank. ‘’The idea of the charter was a welcome move. It would have been impossible to imagine one five years ago.’’

But what has been disappointing is the direction of the current political trend in the region after some signs of promise, she said in a telephone interview from the Indonesian capital. ‘’The pendulum is weighing in favour of countries with less democracy. ASEAN has suffered in its democratic journey.’’

‘’It shows that state security is more important than human security,’’ added the political science professor. ‘’Most ASEAN governments are living in glass houses.’’

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