Asean 'heavy-hearted' over Burma rebuke

Singapore - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations had "no choice" but to deliver a tough position on the violent repression of demonstrations in Burma, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said in an interview published Tuesday.

The statement expressing revulsion over the beatings and killings of monks and anti-regime protesters and calling for a stop to the violence was delivered "with a heavy heart," Yeo told The Straits Times in New York.

"The recent events in (Burma) gave us no choice," said Yeo. "We had to express our common emotion over what was happening there."

Singapore currently holds the Asean chairmanship.

The statement was issued last week while Asean foreign ministers were attending a United Nations General Assembly meeting at UN headquarters in New York.

"If here at the UN we had no common response, how could we face the Secretary General, or what do we say to the other countries?" Yeo asked. "We would have lost all credibility."

Asean has long maintained a basic policy of non-interference in members' internal affairs.

"Whatever others may say, it remains for us that (Burma) is a member of the Asean family and, good or bad, we can't avoid a certain association, a certain responsibility, a certain connection with the fate of that country," said Yeo.

With the turmoil in Burma coming at a time when Asean is about to launch moves toward closer integration, Yeo said, "We discussed this openly among ourselves."

"We asked how we could possibly talk about Asean integration and dispute settlement mechanisms if we ducked such an important issue," as Burma, Yeo said.

"When we talked about Asean integration in the future, the international community would ignore us. We would feel ashamed when we looked ourselves in the mirror. So, the ministers were determined to look the challenge in the eyes and respond." (dpa)