ASEAN defends its response to Burma
Updated
ASEAN is in damage control after being criticised for being too slow in responding to the disaster in Burma.
Presenter: Linda LoPresti
Speaker: Rodolfo Severino, former ASEAN chief, chair of the ASEAN studies centre at Singapore's Institute of South East Asian studies.
SEVERINO: Singapore and Thailand were among the first - both ASEAN members - to respond. Vietnam has raised an amount of money. Indonesia has also sent in a few 130 cargo planes quite early in the disaster, and the ASEAN Secretary General has been in touch with the disaster management focal points in the ASEAN countries.
LOPRESTI: But even the Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan, who was in Washington today, conceded that there was growing frustration at the group's slow response, he said don't write us off yet, I understand people are very angry, very anxious and very frustrated, and you have the right to be.
SEVERINO: Yeah. He's reflecting what has been expressed. I guess when he's referring tot he slowness of the response. One he may be referring to the international community in general, and also perhaps to ASEAN as an association, in the frustration of people over that. But ASEAN has itself no assets to deliver. It's the member states that have to respond, and some of them have done so.
LOPRESTI: But what about as a regional grouping, could it not offer a regional aid package or even pressure the Burmese..
SEVERINO: Well as I said there is no such thing as an ASEAN stockpile of relief goods. ASEAN just doesn't maintain that kind of supply.
LOPRESTI: What about putting pressure on the military junta to allow more foreign aid workers in?
SEVERINO: Well I don't know about that, I guess that's between the authorities in Myanmar and whoever it is that wants to send in people there.
LOPRESTI: We understand that ASEAN has this longstanding policy of not interfering in the...
SEVERINO: Well it's not just ASEAN, it's the UN, it's all other regional associations
LOPRESTI: Yet the UN and the EU are also trying to pressure Burma to open up, to speed up relief efforts.
SEVERINO: No, but what I'm saying, even you talk about the policy of non-interference, it's not distinctive to ASEAN, that policy.
LOPRESTI: But given that Burma is a member of ASEAN, should ASEAN be upholding that policy when it has a catastrophic humanitarian disaster on its hands?
SEVERINO: Yeah but are you advocating that ASEAN send forces in there?
LOPRESTI: No, I 'm saying perhaps putting pressure on the military junta to open up, or at least to speed up the visas for foreign aid workers.
SEVERINO: Well as I said, I think part of the assessment team has entered Myanmar, the assessment team that ASEAN has put together.
LOPRESTI: So in your view do you believe ASEAN is doing all it can in terms of Burma?
SEVERINO: I think so. In terms of this disaster, you have to distinguish between the member states and ASEAN as an organisation. As I said, ASEAN is an organisation, has no relief goods on standby.
LOPRESTI: There are some that say, what is the point of having ASEAN as a regional grouping if it can't even pressure Burma to speed up relief efforts?
SEVERINO: ASEAN is an association that has many functions, and helping one of its members is just one of them. But as I said, the bulk of the assistance has to come from the individual member states.
LOPRESTI: Finally, SP says this is the beginning for ASEAN, a defining moment, but ASEAN needs less criticism, less ridicule. Would you agree?
SEVERINO: Yeah, I think so. It's not a good practice to cast blame and accusations at a moment like this.
