Human rights violation under Hun Xen's authoritarian regime: Forced eviction.jpg)
Human rights violation under Hun Xen's authoritarian regime: Beating of peaceful Khmer Krom Buddhist monks
Human rights violation under Hun Xen's authoritarian regime: Silencing the oppositionAug 16, 2009
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
YaleGlobal Online
JAKARTA—Twelve years ago, the late Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas defended opening the door of ASEAN to authoritarian countries such as Burma, Cambodia and Laos by saying “No international organization places human rights as a conditionality of membership, not even the United Nations”. With democracy on the march in Indonesia, the largest country of the group, and unremitting political and civil rights violations in others – especially Burma – that precedence of process over substance has become a haunting liability for ASEAN. For ASEAN, the ruling regime in Burma is an insufferable embarrassment to both soft authoritarian regimes like Singapore and thriving democracies such as Indonesia. The embarrassment was highlighted during the recent annual summit of the group at which the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lambasted Burma for its terrible human rights record before an uncomfortable group of senior officials.
The so-called ‘ASEAN Way’ – a preference for decorum based on non-interference and adherence to a consensus decision making process irrespective of the consequent iniquities – has so far guided the organization. The ASEAN ‘union’ was in itself a remarkable achievement for a region which has no history of regional cooperation, and months before the founding still embroiled in low intensity conflicts. The way that came to guide the group evolved out the vested interests of its five founding members – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – to create a passive regional environment which allowed them to focus individually on economic development thereby justifying their respective autocracies.
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