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©Bernama
(Used by permission)
from Tengku Noor Shamsiah
SINGAPORE, July 21 (Bernama) -- Malaysia wants the human rights provisions in
the Asean Charter be incorporated with the Asean value system, its Foreign
Minister Dr Rais Yatim said.
He said Malaysia had made specific points in the 41st Asean Ministerial Meeting
(AMM) Monday that the ambit of the human rights provisions of the Asean Charter
should be looked at very carefully and not a mere importation of the universal
values of human rights.
"But besides those universal values, we should also be in the position to
inculcate and re-evaluate the viewpoints of Asia," he told Malaysian reporters
on the sidelines of the meeting here Monday.
Rais said this was to reflect the value system or the system of life in Asia.
"It should also be somehow reflected in the actual administration and execution
of the principles of human rights. Thus the conglomerate effect of universal
human rights with the Asian value system would be most ideal," he explained.
On another note, Rais said Malaysia was happy to take part in all deliberations
of this foreign ministers meeting of Asean.
"And specifically in a special gathering last night, we decided that the
position of Preah Vihear Temple between Thailand and Cambodia should be looked
at from the neighbourliness point of view especially within the context of the
Asean family," he said.
Having discussed this at length within which Malaysia too played a small role in
giving its viewpoint, Rais said it was decided that the two countries should
exercise maximum restraint.
According to him, all felt that the sooner the matter was resolved the better it
would be, especially for Thailand and Cambodia, and for Asean as a whole.
Regarding some notices extended to the United Nations, he said: "We were of the
view that Asean's viewpoints should be considered priority, but the fact that
Cambodia had extended the news to the United Nations, it was just a matter of
extension of programmes of the news items and nothing more."
The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia over the territory surrounding the
ancient Preah Vihear Hindu temple was reported to escalate when United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recently approved
Cambodia's application to have the complex named a World Heritage site.
Both countries historically laid claim to the 11th century temple, which now
sits on Cambodian soil following the action of the International Court of
Justice, which awarded the ancient temple to Cambodia in 1962.
However, the temple can practicably only be accessed from Thailand.
When asked on the statement made by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Leong in
his opening speech at the AMM that the grouping had decided to press on with the
implementation of the Charter without having to wait for all the 10 member
countries to ratify it, Rais said it was a viewpoint expressed by the prime
minister.
"Therefore it is up the (ASEAN) secretary-general to evaluate what are possible
matters that can be done immediately, but to put it as a biblical directive,
perhaps it is not possible," he said.
On Lee's touching on Thai and Malaysia bilateral relations that both countries
were still managing unsettled political situations, the minister said it was
just a general statement pertaining to what is going on in Malaysia and in
Thailand and therefore " we should not take any specific position on that."
"In general, I believe it has not in anyway rendered Malaysia short of capacity
to govern well.
"We have done well but the issues that we are now facing in Malaysia and those
faced by Thailand, these are what we call "issues that domestically have to be
faced and overcome"," he said.
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Circular No 231/2010: 2nd Asia Pacific Regional Forum Conference
