With reference to the July 19 article by Felix Soh on the ASEAN Regional Forum ("Security issues may be too hot to handle for ASEAN bloc"), as former foreign affairs secretary of the Philippines under two presidents during 1995-2001, I wish to clarify several points of regional and historical interest.
First of all, it is incorrect to attribute inertia on the part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations during the 1999 violence in East Timor. Just before the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in September 1999 in New Zealand, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and then-Philippines President Joseph Estrada agreed that the Philippines would contribute around 700 soldiers to an eventual U.N. peacekeeping operation. This decision was taken in consultation with then-Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas. Later, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore also sent their contingents. At a foreign ministers' meeting in Auckland before the APEC summit, which included Australia, the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Britain (representing the European Union), it was agreed that Australia should not unilaterally send forces to East Timor. ASEAN efforts to find a peaceful solution to the East Timor problem go back years before the crisis, with ASEAN engaging Portugal and the EU in dialogues.
Second, it is not correct to describe ARF's achievements as confined only to the realm of confidence-building. In 1997, when Cambodia almost plunged into civil war, the ASEAN Troika of Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, along with the Friends of Cambodia and the U.N., engaged the warring factions in a dialogue and convinced them to hold elections in 1998. The ASEAN Troika and Japan were again instrumental in convincing the Cambodian parties to accept the results of the elections, which restored peace and stability in the country and paved the way for Cambodia's accession to ASEAN.