The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has long struggled for credibility and this week, it demonstrated why. At a summit in Singapore the 10-member group kept Burma's junta in its fold while simultaneously inking a charter to strengthen its enforcement of human rights. Asean's leaders didn't seem to appreciate the irony.
Burma was welcomed into the regional grouping in 1997, largely at Malaysia's behest. After the crackdown on monks last month, international calls intensified for Asean to suspend the country from its ranks. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, for one, said Monday that the Philippines will not ratify a new Asean charter unless Burma takes concrete steps toward democracy and releases democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ms. Arroyo understands that Asean has real pull. Of Burma's top four import suppliers, three are Asean states: Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Burma's primary destination for exports is Thailand, another Asean state, which accounted for 38% of Burma's exports in 2006, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.
Yet the strongest message Asean could muster was a statement yesterday to say that "the process of national reconciliation" has to "to move forward." Asean also canceled a planned speech on Burma by United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari -- at the behest of Burma's representative.
The group then signed a new charter that formalizes Asean as a legal entity and gives it more sway over regional financial, environmental and trade pacts. But while the charter establishes a human-rights body, it fails to give the committee any real enforcement power. Asean continues to operate largely by consensus, which gives unfree countries such as Burma and Laos veto power.
The new charter lists one of the purposes of Asean as "to strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, with due regard to the rights and responsibilities of the Member States." By embracing Burma, Asean's actions speak louder than its words.