Singapore - The failure of the Association of South-East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) to settle an escalating border row between two
of its members has sorely exposed the bloc's weakness in resolving
disputes within the organization.
Fresh from its successful work in spearheading an international
humanitarian mission into cyclone-devastated Myanmar, the 10-country
ASEAN abdicated from mediating in the dispute between Thailand and
Cambodia.
Cambodia had sought the group's help this week, but ASEAN's
foreign ministers maintained that the 'bilateral process must be
allowed to continue,' referring to efforts by Thailand and Cambodia
to negotiate.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said that during the just
concluded ASEAN ministerial meetings in the city-state, Cambodia had
proposed the creation of an ASEAN contact group that could help
resolve the problem.
'The proposal found favour with a number of foreign ministers, but
there was also a general view that the bilateral process should be
allowed to continue, and there is still no consensus for the
formation of such a group,' he said.
Diplomatic sources said Thailand rejected ASEAN's mediation and
was adamant the issue has to be resolved bilaterally.
Hours after ASEAN turned down Cambodia's plea, a disappointed
Phnom Penh turned to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to
intervene in the dispute.
The row over the land near the roughly 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear
Temple worsened this month when UNESCO approved Cambodia's
application to have the complex named a World Heritage Site.
An estimated 2,000 Thai and Cambodian troops are now facing each
other across the border around the temple, situated between Si Sa
Khet and Preah Vihear provinces in Thailand and Cambodia,
respectively, about 400 kilometres north-east of Bangkok.
While soldiers from both sides were shown on television sitting
side by side and talking to each other amiably, the situation
remained uneasy.
Analysts said the dispute and the subsequent failure of ASEAN to
help bickering members settle their disagreements underscored the
need to flesh out a dispute-settlement mechanism provided for in the
newly drafted charter for the organization that consists of Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The charter, which was approved during the 2007 leaders summit,
also held in Singapore, would make the bloc a legal entity and a
rules-based organization. It also provides for the creation of a
human rights body and a dispute-settlement mechanism.
But a high-level panel of senior ASEAN officials was not due to
present their recommendations on the subject until the leaders summit
in Bangkok in December.
'Thailand and Cambodia have slapped ASEAN right in the face,'
Indonesia's Jakarta Post newspaper charged.
'The military standoff between the two countries has embarrassed
their neighbours, who take pride that their organization is one of
the few with an effective mechanism to maintain regional peace,' the
newspaper said in an editorial.
'Placing this dispute in the UNSC hands put ASEAN in an awkward
position and makes it more difficult to find a regional solution,' it
added.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the Thai-Cambodia
row underscored the need for ASEAN members to ratify the charter -
Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines have yet to do so - so the
organization could have a 'rules-based governing framework' to
address such issues within and outside ASEAN.
'ASEAN could not sit idly by without damaging its credibility,' he
said. 'As a region, it is vital that we continue to move forward on
ASEAN cooperation and integration.'
USA
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