By Ahmad Kamil Tahir, NNN-Bernama
Kuala Lumpur : Parliamentarians from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) agree that differences in state powers or political regimes among the 10 member countries will not be an obstacle to the realization of an Asean Community by 2015.
The heads of delegation to the 28th Asean Inter-Parliament Assembly (AIPA) conference here agreed Wednesday that the differences might have some effect on the process but would not prevent the establishment of the community.
The President of the National Assembly of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Throng, said there was no doubt that because of historical differences and geographical circumstances, each Asean member state had it own way of organizing its state and social governance.
“We can see many models of organizing state powers with some countries practising monarchy, some with president as heads of state, some with prime ministers, some with multi-party and some with uni-party systems,” he told Bernama in an interview.
However, these differences would not prevent Asean member countries from making efforts towards the common interest for social justice, economic development and security through the establishment of the Asean Community, he said through an interpreter.
“The most important thing to me is that all the systems must be truly for the people and people-centred. If Asean and Aipa are truly for the people and people-centred, I believe we can overcome all hurdles because this is the ultimate goal of any political system,” he added.
On Tuesday, a European Parliament member said that the European Union (EU) could not be a model for creating an Asean Community as the Asean countries do not share the same concept of state authority as the EU members do.
Hartmut Nassauer had said that the absence of common ideas about how a state should be structured and how it should exercise its authority prevented the formation of a shared and accepted supranational entity endowed with state competencies.
The First Vice-President of the Thai National Legislative Assembly, General Charan Kullyanijaya, also said the differences in state powers and political regimes among Asean member countries would not be an obstacle to the formation of the Asean Community.
He said the most important factor was that the political system in most of the Asean countries suited the needs of their respective peoples.
“It is the common principle of Asean and Aipa as a whole to respect each other and not interfere in each other’s internal affairs. We have strived for unity and diversity and upheld the principles of unity and enhanced mutual understanding,” he added.
The President of the National Assembly of Cambodia, Samdech Heng Samrin, believes that economic integration is one of the strategies in building an Asean Community. Economic integration would create strong Asean enterprises as a channel for competitive and high quality products, technologies, capital and workforce for the international market.
“I believe that building an Asean Community into a caring or people-centred community has to first begin with each member country holding and sharing the same vision, common effort and practice of fundamental principles such as human rights, democray and rule of law, free market economy and social justice,” he added.