News focus: RI wants to push ASEAN dialogs with civil society

By Andi Abdussalam 

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has expressed strong desire to push ASEAN member countries to have dialogs with the civil society within the region and to establish a human rights body in an effort to improve the image of the regional grouping. 

"Indonesia highly expects that ASEAN would be ready to enter this field, to have a dialog with, listen to and share views with the civil society, something which concerns human rights, the environment and equitable development," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said after attending the 14th ASEAN summit in Hua Hin, Thailand on Sunday. 

Indonesia also has the commitment to actively encourage the formation of an ASEAN human rights body although many parties have doubted ASEAN commitment to create a credible human rights body. 

"Indonesia has been very serious since the beginning to encourage the formation of this ASEAN human rights body. Indonesia has done everything to set an example that we are pursuing not only welfare but also respect for the rule of law, the promotion of human rights, and freedom including freedom of the press," The president said. 

Cambodia and Myanmar during the ASEAN summit objected to the electoral procedures of Civil Society representatives who were to have dialogs with ASEAN leaders. 

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda could understand the objection of Cambodian and Myanmarese governments on electoral procedures of Civil Society representatives. 

"It is true that Cambodia tendered their objection to the procedure on the appointment of representatives of Civil Society of a certain country. It`s quite logic," he said. 

The minister said Cambodian government complained about it because the country concerned was not involved in appointing representatives of civil society group who will have dialogue with heads of states/governments of ASEAN. 

According to Yudhoyono, ASEAN should be ready based on its charter to have a dialog with, listen to and share views with the civil society in an effort to abolish its elitism image. 

"We have to listen to them and that is actually the spirit of the ASEAN charter where ASEAN should show that it is no longer elitist but cares for not only matters of government but also civil matters in all ASEAN nations," he said. 

He said that dialogs and communications with the civil society were part of the process for ASEAN in implementing the ASEAN charter.

"I don`t want to comment too further about the technical, procedural and mechanism of the elections of the civil society representatives. 

Thailand, in its capacity as host and as the ASEAN secretary general, has of course made preparations about it," Yudhoyono added. 

The objection of Cambodia and Myanmar to the selection mechanism of the civil society representatives in the 14th ASEAN summit should be taken as a lesson for the next ASEAN summit. 

Indonesia really hopes that the process in the future would proceed smoothly. 

Besides pushing ASEAN to have dialogs with civil society groups, Indonesia also hopes that the regional grouping -- which consisted of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam? would soon form a human rights body. 

Indonesia would be very active to get the ASEAN human rights body formed not merely to promote the ASEAN image but also to create balance and harmony between law enforcement, freedom and peace. 

"But of course we must keep in mind that the basic freedom of every human being must be respected and highly upheld and must serve as part of the development of ASEAN community in the future," the president said. 

The president said ASEAN was serious about creating a credible human rights body although the condition of its member countries was different from one another. 

"Of course, the condition of Indonesia is different from that of Myanmar and other ASEAN members. Therefore, transition, adaptation and adjustment are needed. And the change which is often successful is a gradual but steady one. 

On the economic crisis, Indonesia was of the view that there is no panacea that could be used to resolve instantly the impact of the current global financial crisis. 

"With regard to regional cooperation to minimize the impact of the economic crisis, there is indeed no panacea or solution that could instantly resolve the problem. We all are aware of this. All advanced countries are affected. Their markets become gloomy. Our exports are therefore disrupted and a number of problems are now facing all nations, including ASEAN," the president said. 

All countries, including Indonesia, have done the best they could. Indonesia has done its best to contribute efforts to minimizing the impact of the financial crisis, both at regional level in ASEAN and at multilateral level in the G-20 forum. 

"All countries wanted to do their best so that the global economic crisis would not worsen, instead the recession would eventually stop so that the world economy would revive," President Yudhoyono said. 

However, all of the efforts are not without limitations so that regional and multilateral cooperation are being made, the president said. 

In order to help cope with the financial crisis, Indonesia has proposed three levels of cooperation schemes in the G-20 forum in the United States last year. 

"The three levels of cooperation schemes are cooperation in the multilateral level, cooperation in the regional level and cooperation in the national level," he said. 

At the regional level, Indonesia worked together with ASEAN to establish the Chiang Mai Initiative. ASEAN also agreed to increase intra-economic cooperation in the trade and investment fields and agreed not to adopt protectionism. 

Indonesia in its capacity as chairman of the Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT GT) and the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP EAGA), has specifically proposed that sub-regional cooperation should provide stimuli packages for infrastructure development