The Asean Summit being held in Cebu City this week was originally scheduled last month but postponed due to a number of reasons. In some ways, this is symbolic of the way in which the fulfilment of Asean’s founding vision has been delayed.
I hope that as our leaders meet this time, they will devote the highest commitment and determination to reinvent Asean as a dynamic and relevant body.
The people of this region need regional representation that stands for higher standards instead of the lowest common denominator.
Asean turns 40 this year. Its leaders, particularly from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore, have expressed concerns that Asean must reinvent itself or risk becoming irrelevant.
In the past 12 months, Asean has embarked on an ambitious mission to develop a Charter to ensure that members will commit to upholding shared principles and values.
Some critics see this exercise as akin to installing locks in a house years after thieves have moved in.
There are concerns that some members of Asean will object to adopting a rules-based Charter after enjoying decades of immunity from criticism or sanction for misgovernance and abuses.
If serious compromises are made concerning the content and compliance mechanisms of the Charter, it risks becoming yet another dust-gathering Asean document.
The reality is that no individual or group will respect or value membership of a club or organisation that does not seem to have or enforce rules. It is important for any organisation to abide by its rules and Charter, more so in the case of Asean. This will ensure continued support and respect for Asean.
Some Asean members have treated the organisation with contempt, using it as a platform for networking and pursuing bilateral deals.
Worse still, they have cynically used Asean as a shield from international pressure without delivering anything positive in return. Burma is a glaring example of this.
Burma has been a member of Asean for nearly 10 years. The tragedy of Myanmar — social, economic and political — has worsened in the past decade. The country’s deteriorating situation is evidence of how Asean’s previous policy of non-intervention has failed and even made matters worse.
Even now, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under strict detention, cut off from Asean leaders and even her own children. This continues despite a three-year-old promise that she would be released. In the meantime, the Burmese regime has rounded up ethnic leaders, activists and humanitarian workers.
Forced labour continues to be a serious problem in Myanmar; activists who report or complain about it have been persecuted and jailed. A representative of the International Labour Organisation was subjected to death threats in Burma for receiving complaints of forced labour.
In November 2005, soon after the regime suddenly moved its capital from Rangoon to Pyinmana (now known as Naypidaw or "Seat of Kings"), it embarked on a vicious offensive against Karen communities, which continues today.
Over 25,000 ethnic Karen people have been driven away from their homes and become internal re- fugees while hundreds have died as a result of this brutal onslaught.
The oppression against other ethnic groups continues as well. Muslim communities in the western state of Arakan are being subjected to genocide-like conditions, including restrictions on religious practices and marriage.
Drug production and trafficking in Burma continue to threaten regional stability as drugs and HIV/AIDS spread across its borders. Recently, China admitted that drug addiction was the worst in Yunnan province, which adjoins Burma.
Similarly, Indian military authorities admitted that HIV/AIDS killed more soldiers than rebel bullets in northeast India which, bordering Burma, has the highest HIV infection rate in the country.
The Burmese regime has been promising that all problems will be solved when it completes implementation of a seven-point roadmap. This involves producing a new Constitution through a 13-year national convention which has been condemned by United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur Paulo Pinheiro as "a mass house arrest" because of the restrictions imposed on delegates.
In 2005, the regime imposed jail terms of up to 106 years on Shan ethnic leaders who wished to discuss the proposed Constitution. Ordinary Burmese nationals risk up to 20 years’ jail for questioning the Constitution-drafting process. The 10th session of the National Convention to draft the Constitution was adjourned on Dec 29, with expectations that a regime-controlled Constitution will be produced in the next two years.
In fairness, Asean leaders have questioned the regime’s so-called democracy roadmap, especially since the process has been paved with detentions, persecution and exclusion.
Asean leaders also successfully pressured Burma to withdraw from chairmanship of the organisation in 2006. These successes have to be built upon.
Asean must pursue vigorous advocacy to turn around a situation that it helped create. This is why Asean must support a UN Security Council resolution on Burma calling on them to comply with basic standards of human rights, democracy and regional security.
I applaud Asean secretary-general Ong Keng Yong’s response to the introduction of a UN resolution by the United States to declare Burma’s authoritarian rule a threat to regional peace.
He asserted that Burma’s continued failure to implement democratic reforms as promised meant that Asean would not come to its defence and that "this is now outside our purview".
Asean must and should continue to push for reform in Burma and work together with external partners to meet this end. It must prove to the Burmese regime that it means business. It must prove that it is committed to democracy and will deliver justice to its people.
The writer is Member of Parliament for Kota Baru and chairs the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Burma.