Reuters, 25 March 2000
ASEAN Explores Revival of Support Fund
By Sabyasachi Mitra
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Reuters) - Southeast Asian finance ministers kicked off a two-day meeting in Brunei on Saturday to explore ways to revive plans for a regional financial crisis fund and steps to monitor short-term capital flows.
``The question now is what form the regional fund should take?,'' said a Brunei finance ministry official said.
There have been suggestions of expanding the existing swap arrangement that exists between ASEAN nations, officials said.
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Some have suggested making the $30 billion Miyazawa plan, set up to help Asian economies through the region's economic crisis, a permanent facility.
``But that would depend upon the Japanese. They have to take the initiative,'' said Rodolfo Certeza Severino, secretary general of ASEAN.
Severino said finance ministers also discussed steps to boost trade and investment and monetary cooperation within the region.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Senior finance officials and central bank deputies, who met ahead of the weekend finance ministers conference, unanimously agreed on Friday to re-open a two-year debate on setting up a regional financial support fund to aid economies in distress.
``The proposal of regional support plan will be put for discussion by finance ministers. I think they will carry over the discussions at their next meeting in Chiang Mai in Thailand,'' said a Brunei finance ministry official.
The move appeared to have the backing of Japan, China and South Korea, who also attended the meetings in the oil-rich sultanate as dialogue partners.
``The idea of a mutual regional support mechanism was discussed,'' said Tatsuo Watanabe, deputy director general at Japan's ministry of finance international bureau.
Officials assured that the proposed regional fund, which has drawn sharp criticism from the United States and other Western nations, would be consistent with, and not duplicate, the activities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF extended large fiscal and monetary bail-out packages to Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea in the wake of the Asian economic crisis.
But Malaysia, a strong proponent of the regional financial facility, has voiced resentment at tough economic reforms demanded by the IMF as part of the rescue packages.
The ASEAN finance ministers would also discuss a report on the exchange of macroeconomic data as part of an effort to set up an early-warning mechanism to detect structural weaknesses in the region.
Each country will submit their economic data to the ASEAN secretariat, which will monitor them along with the Asian Development Bank.
The ASEAN economies are also close to finalizing a deal on a regional automobile insurance scheme.
Reuters, 25 March 2000
ASEAN to Expand Currency Swap Arrangement
By Sabyasachi Mitra
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Reuters) - Southeast Asian finance ministers on Saturday watered down their plans to create a regional support fund and instead focused on expanding an existing facility to tackle future balance of payments crisis.
Plans to create an Asian Monetary Fund failed to take off in absence of adequate support from major economic powers, said officials meeting in the oil-rich sultanate.
Thailand Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda said the meeting of the ASEAN finance ministers agreed on expanding the existing currency swap arrangement among their central banks and include Japan, China and South Korea to enlarge the kitty.
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Officials said that ASEAN's international reserves along with the three other economic powerhouses of Asia -- China, Korea and Japan -- can be used to bail out economies facing balance of payments crisis.
Asked what would be the size of the new swap arrangement, Tarrin said: ``That's difficult to say now.''
ASEAN central banks in January renewed an agreement on currency swaps which provides short-term liquidity financing to ease temporary balance of payments needs.
Some have suggested making the $30 billion Miyazawa plan, set up to help Asian economies through the region's economic crisis, a permanent facility.
``But that would depend upon the Japanese. They have to take the initiative,'' said Rodolfo Certeza Severino, secretary general of ASEAN.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Failed Idea
Senior finance officials and central bank deputies, who met ahead of the weekend finance ministers conference, unanimously agreed on Friday to re-open a two-year debate on setting up a regional financial support fund to aid economies in distress.
But the finance ministers barely touched on the vexed issue of an Asian Monetary Fund, which has drawn sharp criticism from the United States and other Western nations.
Officials said that the ministers could take up the AMF issue at their next meeting in Chang Mai in Thailand.
They allayed the fears of the U.S. and other Western nations by saying that the proposed fund would be consistent with, and not duplicate, the activities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The U.S. fears that a separate Asian financial facility could undermine IMF and weaken Asian countries' willingness to adopt tough reforms advocated by the IMF.
The IMF extended large fiscal and monetary bail-out packages to Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea in the wake of the Asian economic crisis.
But Malaysia, a strong proponent of the regional financial facility, has voiced resentment at tough economic reforms demanded by the IMF as part of the rescue packages.
ASEAN finance ministers pledged to sustain their fledgling regional economic recovery by stimulating domestic demand, inducing more private investment and carry out economic reforms.
``I guess it (crisis) tells us to increase regional cooperation, boost domestic demand and reinforce each other,'' said Philippines Finance Secretary Jose Pardo.
The ministers also discussed a report on the exchange of economic data as part of an effort to set up an early-warning mechanism to detect structural weaknesses in the region.
AFP, 25 March 2000
Man arrested for trying to smuggle in illegals hidden in his car
A man, who tried to smuggle two teenagers, one from Myanmar and another from Thailand, by hiding them in a secret compartment in his car, has been arrested.
The 5-year-old Myanmar national and the 20-year-old Thai national were also arrested.
The crime came to light when their vehicle was stopped for a routine check at the Tuas Checkpoint.
Officials became suspicious when they found that the 33-year-old driver, who is believed to be a Malaysian, had no driver's licence.
Upon examining the vehicle, they heard sounds. A thorough search yielded the illegal human cargo.
Under the Immigration Act, those convicted of trafficking in illegal immigrants face a jail term of up to five years, and at least three strokes of the cane.
Illegal immigrants can be jailed for up to six months and be given at least three strokes of the rotan.
In a second case, police arrested a 17-year-old youth, nicknamed "Din Longkang" who was believed to have been stealing older motorcycles around Woodlands for joyrides.
Police had been alerted to the case last October. Fifteen motorcycles were recovered following his arrest.
The Nation, 25 March 2000
US warns Laos and Burma over rights
A senior American official yesterday praised Indonesia’s handling of the postSuharto crisis, but gave stern warnings to Laos and Burma about possible fallout with Washington over deteriorating political and human rights situations.
US Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth said Laos was unlikely to get mostfavourednation (MFN) trading status if the government failed to cooperate fully in accounting for two naturalized US citizens, Houa Ly, 56, of Wisconsin, and Michael Vang, 36, of California, both members of the Hmong ethnic minority, who went missing last year.
“Unfortunately, I think that until we can resolve the matter of the two disappeared, it’s going to be virtually impossible to envision Congress extending MFN status,” Roth said.
“Furthermore, if it becomes apparent the authorities in Laos are either not cooperating with the investigation, or are impeding it, I think that could have a spilledover effect to other aspects of the relationship,” he said. “The burden really is on the government in Laos.”
Vientiane says it knows nothing of the men’s whereabouts, and has blamed the uproar on the Hmong community in the US.
On the issue of political reform in Burma, Roth accused the Rangoon military government of using dirty tactics by arresting opposition members to contain their movement.
The next step for the UN Security Council was to name a replacement for special representative Alvaro de Soto and continue the dialogue with Burma, he said.
“The big picture was laid out in the first mission (by de Soto) that there is a different world out there that Burma can choose. A political reform could lead down the path of greater economic cooperation,” he said.
But since the “grand bargain didn’t fly” during de Soto’s first trip to Rangoon, the question of how to achieve desirable change remains.
Roth also blamed the junta for ongoing drug trafficking.
“When you invite a major drug trafficker to live in Rangoon, nothing you say about your desire to fight narcotic trafficking is convincing,” Roth said, in reference to former opium warlords Khun Sa and Lo Hsingsan, both of whom surrendered in return for amnesties from Rangoon.
Meanwhile, Roth praised President Abdurrahman Wahid for his “impressive start” to consolidate Indonesia after a troubled period of major change postSuharto.
Indonesia had pulled no punches, Roth said, against a wide range of people, from senior military officials to former armed forces commander General Wiranto, in its ongoing official investigation into massacres in East Timor. The killing spree took place after an overwhelming vote by East Timorese for selfrule to end 24 years of Indonesian occupation.
On the upcoming annual Asean Regional Forum (ARF), Roth said he hoped the Thai chairmanship could build on progress made last year in Singapore, where lively discussion on North Korea and the South China Sea, including the disputed oilrich Spratlys, took place.
But it was too early, the US official said, to tell if ARF would become an organisation that could broker a dispute or impose a solution on any particular conflict.
On the issue of crossstrait dialogue between China and Taiwan, Roth said he had been impressed by the moderate tone from Beijing and Taipei.
“Thus far, statements, even beginning at the election night acceptance speech that (President elect) Chen Shuibian gave, (with) the emphasis on crossstrait dialogue, (and) invitation for senior Chinese leaders to come, have been encouraging,” he said.
Beijing’s tone had been moderate, he said, and dismissed any linkage between China’s accession in the World Trade Organisation and restarting the crossstrait dialogue.
“What is clear is that there is an impact if there is not peace and stability in the strait. If there is trouble that can affect the vote in the Congress,” Roth said. “That’s not linkage. That’s reality.”
During the election campaign Chen stated that he was no longer advocating independence for the Taiwan, except under extreme circumstances, such as invasion or attack by the mainland Chinese.
On the Korean peninsula, Roth said positive development had been going on over the past year as Pyongyang reached out to the international community.
“This is one of the most interesting periods I’ve seen in the 20 years that I have been working on North Korean issues,” Roth said.
“The socalled hermit kingdom has decided not to be hermit,” Roth said, pointing to Pyongyang’s effort to establish diplomatic ties with a number of countries, and dialogue with Japan and the US.
Other positive developments included access to a suspected missile testing site, moratorium on longrange missile tests and the reduction of regional tension.
“I’m not telling you that peace is at hand. But if you look at the trend line, I think that that is encouraging,” he said.