Asean ministers deadlocked on Myanmar chairmanship

MACTAN City, Cebu (AFP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers were deadlocked here yesterday over whether Myanmar’s internationally condemned military junta should be allowed to head the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) group in two years.

The ministers grappling with the issue at an annual ASEAN retreat on the island of Cebu were expected to reach a common position by the end of the day, an official said.

The question has exposed divisions in the 10-nation ASEAN, with older members such as the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia demanding real democratic change in Myanmar.

Newer members such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos have taken a more supportive stand, some invoking ASEAN’s long-held tradition of consensus building and non-interference in the affairs of its members.

In Manila, Senate President Franklin Drilon said Myanmar could be subjected to economic sanctions from the United States and the European Union if it fails to implement democratic reforms at the soonest possible time.

He said Myanmar risks further isolation by refusing to undertake the reforms, starting with the release of pro-democracy leader Aung Suu Kyi.

Myanmar, internationally condemned for political and rights abuses including the detention of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is due to take the alphabetically rotating chairmanship of ASEAN in 2006.

The United States and the European Union, which have imposed economic sanctions on the country, have been pressuring the regional grouping to block its chairmanship.

A senior Philippine diplomat at the Cebu retreat said Myanmar could either bend to the calls or make reforms to underscore their commitment to their "roadmap to democracy."

"It’s either they stay by making compromises or voluntarily give up the chairmanship," the diplomat said.

The junta could opt to save face by relinquishing the chairmanship, citing the need to focus work on the "roadmap," which includes talks on drawing up a new constitution that have been condemned internationally as a sham.

If they ignore the criticisms and maintain the status quo, the whole of ASEAN risks losing credibility with its western partners, the diplomat said.

Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win rejected the European Union and United States calls to give up the ASEAN chairmanship as he arrived in Cebu on Saturday for the retreat.

"That is their attitude, not ours. We can decide ourselves because we are an independent country," Win said.

Asked if he felt his country’s record on human rights and democracy qualified it to chair ASEAN, he said: "This is our responsibility. This is all the ASEAN (members’) attitude."

A senior diplomat from Laos, which is chairing the retreat, said ASEAN could not risk abandoning its smaller members because of western dictates and he did not expect it would break from tradition by refusing Myanmar the chairmanship.

"I think everybody knows that the rotation is (followed) every time," the official said.

"I don’t really think there will be concurrent drastic change from the principle," he added, noting that since ASEAN was founded in 1967 none of its members had abdicated the chairmanship.

On Sunday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said he expected "vigorous debates" over Myanmar amid continued pressure from the West. — With Marvin Sy