BANGKOK:
ASEAN has again been shamed by its failure to bring member state Myanmar into
line, this time over demands it open its doors to a full-scale cyclone relief
effort, critics said on
Monday.
The aid crisis, which
is imperilling the lives of 1.5 million desperate survivors of the disaster,
makes a mockery of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' efforts to exert
more influence on members, they
said.
"This reflects dismally
on all ASEAN leaders and governments. They can definitely do more," said Lim Kit
Siang, from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus which was formed in 2004 to
push for democratic reform in
Myanmar.
The crisis has erupted
a year after the 10-nation bloc signed a landmark charter committing it to human
rights and democratic ideals and setting out principles and rules for
members.
"It makes a total
mockery of the charter which is now utterly meaningless. All ASEAN foreign
ministers should convene an emergency meeting on this issue," said Lim, a
leading figure in Malaysia's
opposition.
"With Myanmar as a
member, ASEAN should have set the lead and persuaded the military junta to open
up or face censure and possibly suspension," he said, adding that the affair
cast doubt over ASEAN's entire
existence.
"The whole question
of its utility, its relevance, its pertinence is critical after years of failure
to act on the Myanmar issue," he
added.
Lim said that Malaysia's
parliamentary opposition leader, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, would today attempt to
table an emergency debate on how to push aid into Myanmar, where some 62,000 are
dead or missing by the official count.