The Nuremberg Declaration

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 03/20/2007 4:14 PM | Opinion

The restoration of peace in the once rebellious Aceh, which was crowned by the democratic election of former separatist activists Yusuf Irawan and Muhammad Nazar as Aceh governor and vice governor, respectively, in December, is definitely the most successful example of cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the last 30 years of their relations.

The two multilateral organizations succeeded in supervising the peace agreement between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which was achieved following the devastating tsunami that hit Aceh on Dec. 24, 2004.

In their declaration after the meeting of foreign ministers of the two regional groupings in Nuremberg, Germany, last week, they highlighted the ""unique experience and success of EU-ASEAN cooperation, such as the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), and the importance of drawing lessons from the AMM in view of enhancing the EU's experience and strengthening ASEAN's own capacity in crisis management"".

The Aceh success story is a milestone for ASEAN and EU, and it can be used as a great model for resolving internal conflicts among their members or conflicts between member states. The readiness of the Indonesian government to soften its rigid adherence to the non-interference principle was one of the keys to success in Aceh.

Apart from ASEAN-EU cooperation, there is also a larger vehicle for interregional cooperation between the two continents, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) mechanism, which accommodates additional members drawn from Asia, including China, South Korea and Japan. The two forums show that Asia is not only about regional superpowers China, Japan and India, but is also about ASEAN, one of world's oldest regional groupings.

Established on Aug. 8, 1967, ASEAN leaders have committed themselves to creating the ASEAN free-trade zone by 2015, five years before the creation of the ASEAN Community in 2020. ASEAN now is discussing an draft ASEAN charter, prepared by the regional Eminent Persons Group, to pave the way for the establishment of a credible and sustainable ASEAN Community. The charter is expected to serve as the community's constitution.

To existence of a charter is an absolute prerequisite if ASEAN is to achieve full and effective regional integration as it would be binding on all members. To date, ASEAN decisions have always been based on consensus, which makes the achieving of progress often very slow.

Several ASEAN members are still reluctant to adopt the charter because their governments worry that they will have to adopt the universal values of democracy and human rights. They still love to hide behind the obsolete non-interference principles in order to maintain their grips on power.

For its part, the EU has agreed to share its experiences with ASEAN, including as regards regional integration and constitutional issues related to the drafting of the ASEAN Charter.

ASEAN needs to intensify its cooperation with the EU regarding the creation of the ASEAN treaty as the EU has vast experience in the field. The most important thing, however, is the readiness of ASEAN members to embracing universal democratic values.

Indonesia has the moral right to champion the creation of the ASEAN Charter.

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