Real 'Asian Values'

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The Washington Post 
 October 14, 1999, Thursday, Final Edition 

Real 'Asian Values' 

Jim Hoagland 

Indonesia's implosion and the world's reaction to the military-organized
massacres of East Timor's
defenseless civilians shake fundamental assumptions about Asia that will
take years to examine and
absorb. But three consequences are already apparent and deserve attention now: 

Indonesia no longer serves as Southeast Asia's most important regional
military counterweight to China.
This change affects U.S. strategic thinking about the Pacific, Australia's
sense of national security and a
covey of territorial disputes in the South China Sea. 

History has not ended in Asia. In the rush to create a new El Dorado, U.S.
businessmen and other
prophets of globalization portrayed Asia as a huge, quickly opening market
in which investment and
technology formed destiny. Indonesia's still unfolding revolution
illuminates the failure of such
quasi-Marxist economic determinism. 

Ethnic wars in Bosnia and Kosovo reshaped attitudes toward international
peacekeeping. The conflict in
East Timor is having a similar impact in Asia. Thailand leads in exploring
a new regional approach to the
once taboo subjects of intervention, sovereignty and human rights in
neighboring countries. 

Or, in other words: Interfet has joined Internet in catalyzing Asia's future. 

Interfet is the 15-nation emergency peacekeeping force the United Nations
ordered into East Timor,
with Indonesian acquiescence, on Sept. 20. It has the grisly and dangerous
task of protecting the East
Timorese from the Indonesian military and its local militia allies until
the United Nations can deploy a
more permanent, nation-building force. 

A decision to commit troops abroad reveals much about a nation's character,
priorities and history.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told me that he recommended that
France send 500 troops to
Interfet "because we should have an important force that can make a
difference there and not just be a
symbol. This underlines our global role." 

The Clinton administration seemed eager to make the opposite point. The
initial U.S. contribution was
limited to 200 support personnel, most of whom will stay on nearby warships. 

Australia's agreement to provide 4,000 of Interfet's 7,500 troops was
dictated in part by logistics, in
part by Prime Minister John Howard's readiness to accept a leadership role
in Asian security. Howard
also assumed a responsibility for neighboring East Timor that previous
Australian leaders had shamefully
ignored. 

But it is the Thai role in Interfet that is the most intriguing
development. The Thai decision to commit
1,000 troops and assign a major general as Interfet's deputy commander
departs from the region's long
history of seeing, hearing and speaking no evil when it comes to neighbors'
problems. 

This decision also reflects a new Thai activism, voiced by Foreign Minister
Surin Pitsuwan at the U.N.
General Assembly last month. "Security is now people-related more than
state-related," the
U.S.-educated Thai diplomat said in a speech that echoed Britain's Tony
Blair and others on
humanitarian intervention in Kosovo. States can no longer expect immunity
through sovereignty if they
seriously mistreat their citizens, he indicated. 

The Thais have also been virtually alone in Asia in publicly criticizing
and challenging the murderous junta
that has sealed off neighboring Myanmar (ex-Burma). 

These deeds and words offer a startling contrast to the "Asian values"
campaign of the chauvinistic rulers
of Malaysia and Singapore, who justify their suppression of press freedom
and other political rights on
specious cultural and economic efficiency grounds. 

"Asian values" theorists deliberately stir racist sentiment as a political
tool. The demonstration effect of
the Thais joining an Australian-led force is to de-emphasize race as a
factor in this humanitarian
operation. Thailand deserves international recognition, and gratitude, for
the role it has undertaken in
East Timor. 

Thailand quickly adopted a new constitution and began to limit the
influence of its military and of crony
capitalism when the 1997 economic crisis struck Asia. While far from
finished in its political and legal
makeover, Bangkok now stands on the threshold of a remarkable economic
recovery. 

Indonesia remains mired in turmoil: The heirs of the fallen autocrat
Suharto continue to protect him, his
crooked associates and the military from investigation. Jakarta prolongs
the agony of national collapse. 

These two countries offer diverging paths that have clear lessons about the
enduring importance of
political leadership to offer other Asian countries, particularly China,
and the world. 


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