Asean

By David Shaftel
the cambodia daily

On July 10, 1997, Asean foreign ministers held a three-hour meeting in Kuala Lumpur and decided that Cambodia’s regression into violence earlier that month had been enough to keep it out of the club.

The fighting between factions of Cambodia’s then two co-prime ministers shattered a tenuous peace in Phnom Penh and the countryside.

It also nearly destroyed Cambodia’s chances of becoming part of a decades-old vision of regional cooperation among Southeast Asian nations: Asean.
Cambodia, the last potential member of an association of 10, was kept at arm’s length from the association. But five years later, the country is chairing Asean. And all that came before that is history.

Since it was formed some 35 years ago, Asean has aspired to include all 10 Southeast Asian nations ranging from the Mekong River’s northern tributaries to the Timor Sea.

As stability spread through certain countries of Southeast Asia, Asean was slowly able to expand its ranks. The association’s stated goal of membership for all 10 nations by its 30th anniversary was derailed in the 11th hour, however, when Cambodia again fell victim to warring political factions immediately prior to its scheduled entry.

Two years of rhetoric and debate concerning Cambodia’s stability and readiness for membership status followed. The argument challenged Asean’s long-standing non-interference policy and raised questions of double standards for member nations.
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The abortive, US-brokered 1955 Southeast Asean Treaty Organization was the first attempt at regional unity. Modeled after NATO, it was conceived as a bulwark against communism in the region.

The Association of Southeast Asia formed by Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand followed in 1961, but lasted only one year before tensions in the region forced it to be abandoned. In 1963 the Maphilindo organization, comprising Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, was formed, but it, like its predecessor, unraveled because of regional conflict.

Through most of the 1960s, turmoil reigned in the region. No diplomatic ties existed between Kuala Lumpur and Manila; there was conflict between Indonesia and Malaysia over the disputed territory of Borneo; and, in 1965, tensions rose over the separation of Singapore from Malaysia.

The war in Vietnam was intensifying and many worried that China, in the throes of its cultural revolution, was aggressively vying for influence in Indochina.

In spite of these tensions and perhaps because of them, Asean came to life in Bangkok in 1967. Asean’s Founding Fathers—heads of state from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore—penned the Asean Declaration in hopes of promoting free-market principles and cooperation in the region, as well as combating the perceived communist threat.

Among its tenets, the group hoped “to accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region...to promote regional peace and stability through...adherence to the United Nations Charter...and to promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields.”

The declaration stated that “the Association is open for participation to all States in the South-East Asian Region subscribing to the aforementioned aims, principles and purposes.”

Another of Asean’s founding tenets was a principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of individual nations.

From the outset, Asean’s stated goal was to be inclusive of all the nations of Southeast Asia. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam attended the occasional Asean meeting as guests or observers. North Vietnam stayed away, and Burma stayed at arm’s length in hopes of preserving its neutrality. Ultimately, it would take 18 years for Asean to expand its ranks.

Indeed, it would take nine years for the first Asean summit to be held. It happened in Bali, Indonesia, in 1976, and it was there that Asean would unveil the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. Signing the treaty would become a precondition for Asean membership and provided a framework for conflict resolution and commitment to harmony between members.

A second summit was held the following year in Kuala Lumpur. In January 1984, Asean’s ranks swelled to six as Brunei was admitted one week after gaining independence from Britain. Three years later, in July, the Third Asean Summit was held in Manila.

Laos and Vietnam were granted observer status in July 1992 and signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation at the Asean Ministerial Meeting in Manila.
In July 1993, Cambodia attended the 26th Asean ministerial meeting as an official guest for the first time since the group’s inception. Prince Norodom Sirivudh, then-minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, represented Cambodia at that meeting.

The following year, Prince Sirivudh again attended a ministerial meeting as a guest, and, in October 1995, Cambodia applied for “observer” status.
The 28th ministerial meeting on July 28, 1995, was a busy one, as Cambodia’s application for observer status was approved following the country’s accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Burma also signed the treaty and applied for observer status, and Asean admitted Vietnam as its seventh member that July.

The Lao foreign minister announced his nation’s desire to join Asean on the group’s 30th anniversary, two years later during a ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

At the fifth Asean Summit in Bangkok, in December 1995, heads of state from Cambodia, Laos and Burma, signed a Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone —participating in Asean initiatives before achieving membership status.

By 1996, Cambodia was on track for entry into the regional body. Along with Cambodia, Laos and Burma submitted applications for membership and planned to join during the 30th anniversary celebration.

In November, at the First Informal Asean Summit in Jakarta, Asean heads affirmed that they would like all three countries to join simultaneously. Effective immediately, those three countries would be allowed to participate in Asean activities.

Cambodia was optimistic that its days of regional isolation were finally coming to an end.
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The first indication that Cambodia’s membership in the regional body was in doubt came when Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas hesitated to say that Cambodia was ready for entry in July. Alatas said that Cambodia would have to meet several Asean criteria for entry and prove that it was able to comply with others.

To join Asean, Cambodia was required to meet a schedule for reducing customs tariffs from rates of up to 30 percent to zero to five percent, and reduce tariffs on foreign goods to comply with a timetable for the Asean Free Trade Area.

The violence that would ultimately delay Cambodia’s Asean entry began when at least 19 people were killed and 125 were wounded on March 30, 1997, after attackers tossed grenades at an opposition party demonstration near the National Assembly in Phnom Penh. The demonstrators were calling for an overhaul of what they called a corrupt judiciary beholden to the ruling CPP.
“Sadly, the country is reverting to its unfortunate past, both politically and economically,” noted an April 1997 editorial in the Asia Times. The editorial added that 40 percent of Cambodia’s budget still came from foreign aid, and cited corruption, lawlessness and continued political conflicts as continuing problems.

“If Cambodia cannot clean up its political act and institute necessary economic reforms immediately, its admission to Asean will be a burden not only for its people, but for the rest of the association as well.”

By the end of April, senior Philippine Foreign Ministry officials were suggesting that political tensions in Cambodia might undermine its chances of Asean acceptance. Citing the March 30 grenade attack, Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon warned in The Nation newspaper that Cambodia “might have a problem because of the internal political situation among the different parties.”

The following month, a 10- member study mission to Cambodia composed of university professors and politicians from Asean nations arrived to assess the situation. They warned that “recent developments have given rise to growing concerns that...Cambodia may be in danger of relapsing into another round of prolonged and purposeless violence.”

However, that same week, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told Asiaweek magazine that Cambodia should be admitted to Asean and said that other Asean countries had been admitted to the group before their democratic and human rights records were up to par.

But as Cambodia approached the proposed July 1997 entry date, the country’s membership aspirations increasingly began to derail.
Political tensions and, ultimately, a bitter feud between co-premiers Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh erupted in bloody street battles, ending in the prince’s yearlong exile from Cambodia and months of sporadic fighting, primarily in the northwest.

The other two nations, Laos and Burma, joined Asean as planned, but the fighting again isolated Cambodia from the rest of the bloc, and Asean’s hopes of celebrating its 30th anniversary with all 10 Southeast Asian nations under its umbrella were ultimately thwarted.

After an emergency meeting following the fighting, Asean issued a statement proclaiming that the organization remained “committed to non-interference,” but had “decided in the light of unfortunate circumstances which have resulted in the use of force, the wisest course of action is to delay the admission of Cambodia into Asean until a later date.”
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Hun Sen, in turn, issued a stern warning to Asean: “If Cambodia sees Asean interfering in internal affairs, we will decide not to join...we survived a long time without [Asean] membership,” pointing out that Asean had not interfered in disputes such as unrest in the Philippines and factional clashes in Indonesian-ruled East Timor, or coups in Thailand.

Ali Alatas replied that Asean had no plans to “interfere or judge” the situation in Cambodia or either of the factions. Asean had intended to send envoys to Cambodia to meet with leaders from each feuding faction.
Indeed, Alatas had said earlier that same year that Asean would not delay Burma’s entry because of Western pressure over that country’s human rights record.

“We have explained to our European partners...that we cannot apply preconditions that would mean an interference in the internal affairs of the would-be member country,” Alatas said.

Asean had hoped that by admitting Burma, the regional body would be able to encourage reform. But Asean was roundly criticized for accepting Burma, in spite of its dismal human rights record, and still smarting from this decision, the body remained divided over admitting Cambodia.

Lao Mong Hay, then executive-director of the Khmer Institute for Democracy, wrote in a 1998 editorial in The Cambodia Daily that Asean’s attempted mediation in Cambodia did not violate Asean’s conventions of non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation.

He argued that since the Asean nations are also party to the 1991 Paris Peace Accords that brought together Cambodia’s four warring factions and put an end to decades of civil war, Asean’s decision was within its mandate.

One week before Cambodia’s planned entry, then-foreign minister Ung Huot said he still had hopes for a speedy entry into Asean, but said it “would be a miracle” if Cambodia were admitted on July 23, as planned.

Two days before the Summit, Hun Sen again rejected Asean efforts to reduce tension in Cambodia.

While a delegation of Asean foreign ministers was in town, Hun Sen told reporters that Cambodia was capable of solving its own problems and that Asean would not be allowed to use membership in the body as leverage to gain influence in Cambodia’s internal affairs.

He made these comments even though Indonesian Foreign Minister Alatas, who led the delegation, said that King Norodom Sihanouk and Prince Norodom Ranariddh indicated that they would welcome Asean’s help in resolving the crisis.

In the same interview, Hun Sen termed Asean’s shunning of Cambodia “a big mistake.” He said that Asean’s post-conflict fact-finding mission was too short and conducted in haste. “I told [Asean] that four days is not even enough to look for a girlfriend or boyfriend,” he said.

Cambodia’s hopes for July entry into Asean were officially dashed in Kuala Lumpur, when Asean foreign ministers reaffirmed their July 10 decision to defer Cambodian membership. The announcement came in advance of the formal induction ceremony of Laos and Burma, and after an 11th hour appeal by Ung Huot.

But, prior to his departure for the Kuala Lumpur meeting, Ung Huot signaled an apparent change in the Phnom Penh government’s attitude to Asean involvement in Cambodia’s political affairs, saying “Cambodia welcomes Asean’s role...in finding political stability in Cambodia.”

But despite this conciliatory gesture, Hun Sen still refused to recognize Prince Ranariddh as Cambodia’s first prime minister, putting him in dispute with Asean.

“We recognize that in Phnom Penh the disputed position of the first prime ministership is still unresolved, despite the developments that are taking place...but Hun Sen is not ready to accept Ranariddh.”

Though it was never officially stated, all indications from Asean were that preconditions for membership were free and fair elections followed by the establishment of a coalition.

Weeks after the factional fighting the UN Credentials Committee postponed its decision on which faction of the government to recognize, leaving Cambodia’s seat at the UN vacant. The nine-member committee was undecided about whether to recognize the Phnom Penh government or a delegation led by Prince Ranariddh.

The seat would stay vacant until December 1998 after a new CPP-Funcinpec coalition government was established.

In the wake of the violence, as much of the world felt Cambodia was backsliding into the violent patterns that characterized its past, the Cambodian government sought to restore an internationally recognized CPP-Funcinpec coalition government.

Ung Huot quickly stepped into the void as co-prime minister, although Asean and other members of the diplomatic community wanted to see the return of the exiled Prince Ranariddh ahead of a national election.

In February 1998, the Asean “Troika” was formed to monitor the integrity of the general elections to take place that summer. It was formed by the foreign ministers of Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, and backed a peace plan conceived by the Japanese government to ensure a regular election and the return of exiled Prince Ranariddh in time for the ballot.

The CPP won the 1998 elections, and though there were some irregularities, it was accepted as fair by most observers in Asean.

Those announcements came much to the chagrin of opposition leader Sam Rainsy and Prince Ranariddh, who noted “legal and technical problems with the conduct of the election.”

After the 1998 ballot, Cambodia had only to end its post-election deadlock and form a new government—this in the wake of a Sept 4 declaration by Asean that Cambodia’s elections were “free and fair.” Japan had approved the election results just prior to that announcement.

In September 1998, Asean decided to disband the Troika established after the 1997 fighting, but Asean stood firm on its assertion that no date would be set for Cambodia to enter the association until a new government was formed.
In November, a new coalition government was finally formed when Funcinpec announced it would support a parliamentary vote of confidence for Hun Sen as prime minister.

Chea Sim was appointed to preside over a soon-to-be-created Senate and Prince Ranariddh was tapped to chair the National Assembly, clearing the final hurdle to Asean entry.

In early December 1998, Cambodia swore in a new coalition government four months after the general elections. Hun Sen became sole prime minister and Prince Ranariddh became president of the National Assembly. The establishment of a Senate followed.

Cambodia finally got the nod from Asean at a two-day summit in Hanoi later in December. At the summit, Asean leaders said they would admit Cambodia, though a date for a formal ceremony had not been set.

“The marriage ceremony has been organized,” Hun Sen said before the official ceremony on June 30, 1999. “Now we have to wait for the registration.”