Civil Society refuses to cave in at ASEAN Summit

Civil society representatives from Southeast Asia’s developing democracies delivered an unequivocal message to the region’s leaders at a summit – they will not succumb to the whims of governments that suppress political and civil liberties at home.

They did so by boycotting a carefully choreographed encounter between government leaders and civil society representatives at the summit of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN). Those who refused to participate at this meeting came from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, host of the 15th ASEAN summit that runs from Oct. 23-25 in this resort town south of Bangkok.

The countries that had representatives at this session on Oct. 23 ranged from military-ruled Burma, the city-state of Singapore ? ruled by one party that tolerates little criticism ? to Vietnam, which is under the grip of a communist government.

This followed a slap in the face for civil society by some ASEAN governments, which rejected half of a list of 10 civil society members who were chosen by their peers to participate in the face-to-face exchange between ASEAN government leaders and non-governmental organisation (NGO) representatives on Friday.

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