Moribund ASEAN heads fear new
colonial yoke
South China Morning Post. Dec
17, 1997.
ANALYSIS by Greg Torode.
IT could all have been so different. A historic gathering of East
and Southeast Asian leaders to celebrate 30 years of Asean could have been
the defining moment in a decade of unprecedented development.
Colonialism gone, just six months ago the event looked set to herald a new dawn in regional power outside of any Western influence.
Instead, the informal East Asian leaders' summit ended in anti-climax. The pressures of continued currency turmoil weighed on every delegation present, from China to Laos.
Independence? What independence? Instead of a call to stand alone, the meeting's only firm achievement seemed to be a morose recognition of the trouble ahead and the need for more European, US and International Monetary Fund (IMF) support.
If anything, too, the sheer gravity of the collapse finally became apparent. Leaders so cavalier only six months before seemed mired in an atmosphere of remorse.
No one seemed to reflect the pressure more than the host, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
There were no stirring attacks on evil speculators or barnstorming declarations of the triumph of Asian values. The world, he said limply, was simply not equal.
Squeezed between IMF bailouts in neighbouring Indonesia and Thailand, Dr Mahathir appeared to struggle to whip up action over concerns at the new role of the US-influenced institution.
It is not that the fears are not there, it is just they are accompanied by a position of weakness.
Japan's Ryutaro Hashimoto summed it up when he said there was no Asian way out.
No one knows this more than Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai. When he left for Kuala Lumpur, a US dollar could buy 44 baht. As he made to leave, it was buying 49.
Published in the South China Morning Post. Dec 17, 1997