Regime Unwilling to Meet Key Benchmarks for ASEAN Chairmanship

This week, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa will be travelling to Burma to assess whether the country is ready to assume the chairmanship of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Civil society groups, including the Task Force on ASEAN and Burma (TFAB) and Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy (SAPA), have expressed their concerns that awarding Burma this position will remove the incentive for the regime to improve the political and human rights situation in the country. In their open letters to the Indonesian government, both networks included a list of key benchmarks that Burma’s regime must meet before they assume the ASEAN chairmanship, which Mr. Natalegawa can use as indicators on his assessment mission to the country […]

Civil Society Responds to Indonesia: Burma is Not Ready to Chair ASEAN

On 18 October, the Task Force on ASEAN and Burma (TFAB), a network of Burma’s exiled civil society groups, sent an open letter to Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to call on ASEAN to delay its decision regarding Burma’s bid for the bloc’s chairmanship in […]

Open Letter to Indonesian Government as the Chair of ASEAN on Gross Human Rights Violations in Burma

Your Excellency,

We, members of the Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy (SAPA, a network of Asian civil society organisations engaged intergovernmental processes at the sub-regional, regional and international level, working on various issues of public interest), write to you today, in view of the fact that Indonesia is currently serving as the Chair of ASEAN, to share our continued concern about gross human rights violations in Burma/Myanmar ahead of your mission to the country on 26 October 2011 […]

Asean to Listen to Suu Kyi as Burma Seeks Chair

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will weigh the opinion of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as it considers whether to invite Burma to chair the regional grouping in 2014, Indonesia’s foreign minister told The Associated Press.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa also said Indonesia’s own transformation from its authoritarian regime to democracy in a decade could offer lessons to Burma, one of the world’s most sanctioned nations because of its poor human rights record […]

Demonstration in front of ASEAN Secretariat Office, Indonesia on 23rd Anniversary of 8888

Indonesian Solidarity for Southeast Asian People (SIAP) organized a demonstration in front of ASEAN Secretariat Office in Jakarta, Indonesia on the 23rd Anniversary of 8.8.88, 8 August 2011 […]

Joint Rally of Indonesian People To Commemorate The 23rd Anniversary of 8888 People Uprising, mass killings and detention: it is time for ASEAN to act

Twenty years ago in 8 August 1988 people uprising in Burma has toppled the military dictator, General Ne Win. Military in response has brutally suppressed the uprising leading to the killings of around 10.000 people, disappearances and another thousand detained until today. Some them has yet found dead mysteriously in the most severe prisons in the country. Another thousand has fled the country living stateless until today […]

Letter: Myanmar should not chair ASEAN

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) deeply regrets a statement made by Rafendi Djamin, Indonesia’s representative to ASEAN’s Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), as reported by The Jakarta Post on July 19: “ … giving Myanmar a chance [to chair ASEAN] could encourage the country to show ASEAN and the world that it is committed to improving its national situation” […]

“People-Oriented” ASEAN Undermines Civil Society Efforts at Regional Conference

The theme of this year’s ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2011 (ACSC/APF) was, as it turned out, ironically “Claiming a People-Centered ASEAN for a Just Global Community.” Despite the determined efforts of civil society groups throughout the region, as the events of the week transpired it was clear that the ASEAN leaders had re-claimed ASEAN for itself, rather than the people.

Beginning with an inspiring keynote video message from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi that received a standing ovation from regional civil society, the week ended with a shocking undermining of civil society, with ASEAN leaders actively controlling what should have been an open and transparent opportunity for dialogue between the leaders of ASEAN and the people […]

Burma’s Asean Chairmanship up in the Air

The decision of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on whether Burma will be the allowed to become the chair of the organization in 2014 has been deferred until later in the year. Asean is in no rush to approve the Burmese bid to become head of Asean, the Indonesian foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa told The Irrawaddy a day before the latest regional summit starts in Jakarta […]

Human Rights Experts Call on ASEAN to Support an Investigation into Violations in Burma

The Vice-Chair of the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Nurkholis, today called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to support a UN investigation into business and human rights violations in Burma. Mr. Nurkholis made his statement as a member of the experts panel at regional civil society’s first Public Hearing on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Human Rights in ASEAN held in Jakarta today […]