PHNOM
PENH — Asean nations are trying to
achieve economic integration some time next year. But experts say the 10
Southeast nations that comprise the bloc have many domestic political and
security issues that must be ironed out.
Those
issues are far from resolved, imperiling the integration, an Asean diplomat
said Monday.
Asean
has developed so-called scorecards for three categories of communities:
economic, socio-cultural and political-security. Asean officials say they score
92 percent for economic community and 82 percent for socio-cultural. But Asean
only scores 12 percent in political and security issues, said Hassan Wirajuda,
the Indonesian ambassador to Cambodia.
Speaking
at a public lecture at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace on
Monday, Wirajuda said these issues remain a major gap in Asean integration.
“Because
of differences among Asean countries on the state of their political
development in terms of democracy, quasi-democracy and authoritarian government,
which makes the issue of political and security community most sensitive to
some,” he said. “But through time since the Asean Charter and Asean Blueprint
were adopted, we made a lot of progress. Not as fast as we wanted, but we made
progress.”
Asean nations
are facing many different challenges, amid human rights violations, backsliding
democracy and, in Thailand, ongoing political unrest, including a May coup.
The
recent exodus of illegal Cambodian workers from Thailand, following the coup,
points to larger problems of integration as a whole in the region, observers
say.
Experts
point to the recent prolonged military standoff between Cambodia and Thailand
and ongoing disputes over the South China Sea as further evidence the region
doesn’t have the proper mechanisms in place to tackled sensitive political or
security matters.
If not
addressed, such issues can hurt upcoming Asean integration, Wirajuda said.
“Don’t
inherit these problems for future generations,” he said. “That is the principle
that we in Indonesia have been adopting. Otherwise, we cannot develop a strong
and cohesive community among ourselves.”
Some
“modest” progress has been made, however, he said. Asean nations have seen more
open dialogue on human rights and political issues among its members, for
example.
Despite
these challenges, Pou Sothirak, executive director at Cambodian Institute for
Cooperation and Peace, said Asean should not delay the deadline of its
integration.
“Asean
leaders have set the deadline for the integration,” he said. “It cannot be
delayed. The problems that remain will be addressed continuously. This is the
process. Not only Cambodia but also Laos, Myanmar and even Vietnam that are
lagging behind others. We need to increase our efforts along with others. Building
the Asean community is like a departing train, so if we do nothing, the train
will pass us.”
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