The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The lack of consensus in handling inter-regional issues such as border disputes, Myanmar’s government and competing claims in the South China Sea are clouding ASEAN’s efforts to become a full-fl edged community by 2015, according to experts.
ASEAN’s dreams of becoming a security community will remain unrealized unless the association backs away from its pledge not to use force to solve problems, according to Rizal Sukma, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
“The Thai-Cambodia border dispute shows that members of ASEAN can’t refrain from using force with each other. How can you say we are a community if we attack each other?” he said.
Despite the active involvement of Indonesia and ASEAN in brokering talks between Thailand and Cambodia, the two nations continue to exchange fire along their border. The latest flare-up is a fight over a stretch of border close to Tan Moan and Tan Krabey, two 12th century Hindu temples that both sides claim.
So far, 18 people on both sides have been killed in 12 days of gunfi ghts, grenade attacks and artillery bombardments that have displaced 65,000 people. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa previously said that the border dispute was not a good criteria for judging ASEAN’s success.
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