The official theme for Asean this year is
"One Community, One Destiny", and on the table for its 20th summit
starting tomorrow is how it can push ahead on integration and fulfil the
promise of the heady slogan.
But
what will likely dominate discussions both inside and outside the plush meeting
rooms at the Peace Palace, where the summit is being held, will be yesterday's
by-elections in Burma.
The
closely watched polls, expected to send Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi into
Parliament after 22 years of house arrest, are a milestone on the country's
path towards political reform. But some of the shine was tarnished with
allegations of ballot tampering.
Burma
President Thein Sein, who is slated to attend the summit, is likely to brief
the other nine Asean leaders on the by-elections. Their hopes will be that it
went well, especially as Burma, which became an Asean member in 1997, is
scheduled to take over the Asean chair in 2014 after giving up its turn in
2006.
Asean
has also held the at-times unpopular line that it is better to engage the
country - previously ruled by a military junta - than to isolate it.
Yesterday,
Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said the weekend polls portend well for
the country. Asean had sent a delegation to monitor them.
"I
have been in touch with the teams very, very closely, and they report full
enthusiasm, full alertness, full awareness of all parties involved in the
by-elections," he told reporters here.
"It
is a good omen for Myanmar (Burma)."
A
statement from Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) yesterday said
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is arriving here today for the summit,
accompanied by his wife, Ho Ching, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang
and Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam.
Deputy
Speaker Charles Chong will be representing the Singapore Parliament at the
annual Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly meetings.
MFA
said the Asean leaders will discuss community-building efforts and Asean's goal
of realising the Asean Economic Community by 2015.
They
will take stock of the implementation of the Asean Charter signed in 2007 and
the Connectivity Masterplan, as well as discuss efforts towards the realisation
of a drug-free Asean by 2015. They will also exchange views on regional and
international issues, said MFA.
There
are also hopes that the regional bloc can make progress on the Asean++ free
trade agreement launched last year. While Asean has signed trade pacts with
China, Japan and South Korea separately, it wants a wide-ranging free trade
bloc spanning East Asia and beyond.
But the
leaders will need to work at ironing out the kinks - especially in ensuring
that plans are not stymied by implementation roadblocks.
The
Connectivity Masterplan, for instance, was adopted in Hanoi two years ago, but
still faces challenges in actualising the plans to link up via physical
infrastructure, trade agreements, and cultural and educational tie-ups.
Singapore
has been at the forefront of roping in the private sector for its 15 priority
projects, including the Singapore-Kunming rail link and the easing of visa
requirements for Asean nationals. Starting last October, it has arranged
dialogues with interested companies from countries such as Japan and the United
States.
However,
the Asean Way, which emphasises consensus over enforcement, means that not
every member - grappling with their own domestic agendas - is in lockstep.
Veteran
diplomat K. Kesavapany, who was Singapore's director-general for Asean in MFA
during the late 1980s, acknowledged the challenge.
"Of
course, it is frustrating that Asean is not able to move faster and further,
especially in trade liberalisation and economic integration," he told The
Straits Times. But he is hopeful that the regional bloc's member-states will
eventually overcome what he terms "an acute sense of nationalism and
territorial integrity".
PM Lee
and his delegation return to Singapore on Wednesday.
Li
Xueying
The
Straits Times
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