Image via Wikipedia| By SAW YAN NAING | Monday, August 9, 2010 |
JAKARTA—Indonesia will take over the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2011, and many observers have high expectations from the region's largest democracy.
Some believe that Indonesia will be a good Asean chair because the nation is now viewed by many to be a model country as a defender of human rights within the Asean grouping.
Thung Ju Lan, a professor at the Research Center for Society and Culture in the Indonesia Institute of Science, told The Irrawaddy in Jakarta that Indonesia can be a catalyst to find a common platform for the rest of Asean members, especially in regard to Burma improving its human rights record.
Sources within Asean in Bangkok also told The Irrawaddy that when Indonesia becomes Asean chair, it may actively pressure the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) to push Burma to improve its human rights record and t0 work harder on democratic reform.
During the Asean summit in Hanoi last month, Asean Deputy Secretary-General Bagas Hapsoro told the Jakarta Post that he wished to see Jakarta become the “Brussels of the East,” increasing in power and relevance under the 2008 Asean Charter.
“There will be a lot of meetings, not only in Jakarta but also in other cities,” said Bagas, when Indonesia becomes the host of Asean.
Some believe that Indonesia’s role is set to increase further, becoming a regional center for economic and diplomatic activity, since the Asean office is based in Jakarta.
Other observers, however, have raised concerns about the expectations of the secretariat’s capability to facilitate the bloc’s vision of making Asean states a fully integrated community by 2015.
Addressing the issue of multi-cultural differences and the various needs of ethnic minorities, Thung Ju Lan, said, "The first thing we need is to try to understand the differences and respect them."
Some observers also noted that Asean's core principle of non-interference in a member country's internal affairs is a de facto Asean element that has been used by the Burmese military regime since 1962 to avoid censure and deflect criticism.
Anggara, who uses one name, a humarn rights advocate and lawyer who is executive director of the Indonesian Advocates Association in Jakarta, told The Irrawaddy that his country needed to somehow redefine the non-interference principle in order to promote human rights more effectively.
At the recent 16th Asean summit in Hanoi, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the bloc wanted very much to see the Burmese election attain international recognition and credibility.
In March 2010, during his visit to Burma, Marty Natalegawa told his Burmese counterpart, Nyan Win, in Naypyidaw that Jakarta expected the regime to “uphold its commitment to have an election that allows all parties to take part.”
Some observers have said change will come slowly in Burma and it will come from within despite the Burmese military regime's suppression of democracy.
An Indonesian human rights defender, Rafendi Djamin, who is a representative of Indonesia to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), said Burma's future is not guaranteed to improve after its planned election.
“There will be a lot of risk,” he said. “ And the country will have to find a way to deal with difficult situations. The more repressive the regime is, the more you need smart people to be able to sustain the [democracy] movement.”
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