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ASEAN ‘stronger’ when strongmen still around: PM Mahathir
Mahathir Mohamad (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, one of the last remaining members of Southeast Asia’s old guard who fought colonialism and transformed their respective nations into “tiger economies”, said ASEAN was stronger when he and his peers — Indonesia’s Soeharto and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew — were still around
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Mahathir Mohamad (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, one of the last remaining members of Southeast Asia’s old guard who fought colonialism and transformed their respective nations into “tiger economies”, said ASEAN was stronger when he and his peers — Indonesia’s Soeharto and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew — were still around.
The 93-year-old prime minister, who returned to office after a shock election victory in May last year, has promised he would not stay in power for long, honoring an agreement he made with his former foe, Anwar Ibrahim, who helped him topple his former protégé, Najib Razak.
Mahathir, however, argued that it was better for the regional grouping if its member nations could have governments that could last long enough to enable them to forge better cooperation and understanding.
ASEAN, he argued, was stronger and more united during his younger days because governments at the time did not change very often.
“In the past, Pak Harto and I always met up. We talked about our respective goals and ways. Now we can have a meeting with a leader of a country and then later [we meet] with another leader of that country,” Mahathir said during an interview with members of Indonesia’s media at his office on Tuesday.
Before his latest election to office, Mahathir had ruled Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, making him the longest serving prime minister in the country.
Soeharto, who died more than 10 years ago, led Indonesia for 32 years until his ouster in 1998 following bloody political turmoil. Lee Kuan Yew, often seen as Mahathir’s political nemesis when he was alive, stepped down as Singaporean prime minister in 1990 after serving in the post for 31 years. The city-state’s patriarch died on March 23, 2015.
For Mahathir, democracy, which he once said was out of tune with Asian values, has inadvertently made ASEAN less united as a grouping. “From time to time we could always try to strengthen relations but it would not be as strong as it used to be. Therefore, ASEAN becomes less stronger, less united, and the understanding between its leaders is also not as good,” he said.
He added: “I am sure that if we could have a slightly longer-serving leader then we could boost relations.”
There are many things that ASEAN could do, he said, citing the territorial dispute in the South China Sea that pitted Beijing against several ASEAN nations, including Malaysia, as an issue that the grouping could help address.
Separately, Yuyun Wahyuningrum, Indonesia’s representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), challenged Mahathir’s argument.
“In this era of a people-oriented and people-centered ASEAN, the grouping should be answerable to the people’s needs and human rights. Therefore, democracy is the best way of governing the nation states,” she told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
“Only by respecting human rights, democratic principles, the rule of law and good governance will ASEAN get stronger, especially in the grouping’s aims to achieve regional integration.”
Yuyun’s predecessor, Dinna Wisnu, however, said she agreed with Mahathir’s argument, but as long as it was meant that ASEAN would change if leaders of its member states could agree on many issues, and not a return to dictatorship.
“ASEAN was first established with an institutional system allowing wide room for top-down decision-making,” she said.
“With the ASEAN Charter, adopted in 2007 to provide legal status and institutional framework for the bloc, a quick change of leaders in addition to the top-down system made it difficult to reach a swift change.”
ASEAN was formed in Bangkok in 1967 by five Southeast Asian nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.
It now has 10 member states, the newer ones being Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.
The grouping is currently facing a number of challenges ranging from territorial disputes to transnational terrorism.
Agnes Anya contributed to this story from Jakarta.
