Singapore taunts RI, RP and Thailand over charter

Tony Hotland and Kornelius Purba , The Jakarta Post , Singapore | Tue, 07/22/2008 10:14 AM | Headlines

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday taunted the three ASEAN members who have not ratified the ASEAN Charter.

Without explicitly naming them -- Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand -- he warned the three democracies, who founded the regional organization along with Malaysia and Singapore, that ASEAN would go ahead with the charter without waiting for all 10 members to ratify it.

"The timely ratification and implementation of the charter will itself be a signal of ASEAN's resolve. The internal processes of the member countries are different and some will be more difficult than others," Prime Minister Lee said when opening the 41st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting here Monday.

"However, the pace of ASEAN integration should not be set by its slowest members, or else all will be held back by the problems of a few."

In response to Lee's statements, in their joint communiqu* issued after their meeting Monday afternoon, the ASEAN foreign ministers stated: "We reaffirmed the commitment by all member states to ratify the ASEAN Charter by the 14th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok (this year), and pledged to undertake all measures necessary to ensure expeditious implementation of the Charter."

Neither Lee nor the foreign ministers alluded to the rising tension between Cambodia and Thailand in their statements. The feuding countries were represented at the meeting by a senior diplomat and a deputy prime minister, respectively.

The Indonesian government submitted the ASEAN Charter to the House of Representatives last week. Several factions have expressed reservations, saying the charter is undemocratic and pays insufficient attention to human rights protection.

Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo told the ASEAN summit last year her country would not ratify the charter until Myanmar had released opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Thailand also remains reluctant to approve the charter.

"Hence, ASEAN has decided to press on with the charter's implementation without waiting for all 10 members to ratify it," Lee said.

In his speech, the prime minister did not explain when ASEAN had decided to leave behind the countries who have been slow to ratify the charter.

With Myanmar's formal ratification by its foreign minister Nyan Win on Monday, seven of the group's 10 members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam are the other six -- have now endorsed ASEAN's new constitution.

According to Article 47 of the charter, "the charter shall be subject to ratification by all member states in accordance with their respective internal procedures. This charter shall be signed by all ASEAN members."

The charter does not set a fixed deadline for the ratification process, but ASEAN leaders expressed their hope during the summit here last November that the charter would have come into force by the time of the Bangkok summit later this year.

The foreign ministers also discussed the progress of the tripartite program to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, conducted jointly by Myanmar, ASEAN and the United Nations. Although Suu Kyi's detention was also mentioned in their communiqu*, the ministers took a soft approach to the issue, apparently because ASEAN wants to maintain the momentum in helping the natural disaster victims.

"We reiterated our calls for the release of political detainees, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to pave the way for meaningful dialogue involving all parties concerned," they said.

On Tuesday, ASEAN ministers will hold dialogues with their partners from China, Japan and South Korea.

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