Call for establishment of an ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Good Governance as another step in ASEAN-institution building to move from a government-driven ASEAN to Parliament-driven ASEAN and eventually people-driven ASEAN

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Speech at the Conference on Good Governance, Democracy and ASEAN
organized by the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC)

by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Prince Hotel, Friday): Last November, the Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar  hosted a workshop of ASEAN Parliamentarians on the Myanmar issue, which led to the birth of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) and the formation of Myanmar parliamentary caucuses in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Philippines, with individual membership from Cambodia.

The AIPMC had achieved a modest  success as its first objective, the denial of ASEAN 2006 Chair to Myanmar, was met in July this year when the Myanmese military junta bowed to regional and international pressures by opting out of its turn to take the ASEAN Chair 2006 by rotation.

The AIPCM meeting in Bangkok in September had adopted as its second objective the demand that ASEAN countries should suspend Myanmar from ASEAN unless there are meaningful and substantive progress in democratization and national reconciliation in Burma in the next 12 months.

This AIPMC Conference on Good Governance, Democracy and ASEAN is held at a very important juncture, a week before the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur.  The statement that will be issued by the Conference, particularly with reference to Myanmar, should have an jmportant  bearing on the ASEAN Summit.

I would urge that the Conference should strongly reiterate and declare:

• Full support for the AIPMC Bangkok decision in September that ASEAN should suspend Myanmar as a member unless there are meaningful and substantive progress in democratization and national reconciliation in Burma within 12 months;
• That the ASEAN Chair should be denied to Myanmar, whether 2007 or subsequently, if  such meaningful and substantive changes in democratization and national reconciliation continue to be absent; and
• ASEAN Secretary-General should be required to make regular reports, whether annual or half-yearly, on the progress of the Myanmar military junta to fulfill its series of outstanding pledges and undertakings to ASEAN, such as immediate  release of Aung San Suu Kyi made at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers� Meeting in Pnomh Penh in July 2003 and repeated subsequently, democratization and national reconciliation.

As today�s conference is on Good Governance, Democracy and ASEAN, I wish to take this opportunity to call for the  establishment of an ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Good Governance (AIPCGG) as another step in ASEAN-institution building to move from a government-driven ASEAN to Parliament-driven ASEAN and eventually a people-driven ASEAN.

In the first 38 years of  ASEAN since its formation of 1967, ASEAN had been a very governmental affair, being largely involved with government-to-government relations and meetings, with scarce input by the ASEAN legislators, civil societies and citizenries.

The AIPMC is the first MPs-driven ASEAN effort in the 38 years of ASEAN � as distinct from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organisation (AIPO) which  is more of a Parliament-to-Parliament grouping rather than a MPs-driven institution. . It is my hope that just as the meeting in Kuala Lumpur last November gave birth to the  fairly vigorous AIPMC, the AIPMC Conference this weekend can give birth to a second  ASEAN inter-parliamentary caucus capable of making an impact on the ASEAN landscape.

The areas and subjects that can be covered by the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Good Governance (AIPCGG) will be very wide and variegated as good governance is about accountability, transparency, openness, justice and the specific areas would include the creation of strong and effective Parliaments,  Judicial Independence, the rule of law, justice, war against corruption, efficient government delivery service, free press, freedom of information, socio-economic justice, etc.

Just now, when declaring open the Conference, the Minister in the Prime Minister�s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, had announced that the Malaysian Parliamentary Human Rights Caucus which met in Parliament two days ago, had decided to rename itself as Parliamentary Caucus for Human Rights and Good Governance to cover a larger ambit of concerns.

May be, the Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance can be a forerunner to the formation of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Good Governance as the second ASEAN Inter-parliamentary institution � resulting eventually,  down the years,   in the establishment of an ASEAN Parliament.

     
(02/12/2005)