Indonesian parliament seeks delay of ASEAN Charter ratification
18/9/2008 17:57
The Indonesian House of Representatives has asked the Foreign Ministry to
postpone ratification of ASEAN Charter, because of several disputed provisions
within the charter, a local newspaper said in Jakarta today.
In a hearing
with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda yesterday, a House member from Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Andreas Pareira said that there was no need
to rush the ratification, because the House had yet to reach a consensus on the
disputes.
"We still have a couple of reservations regarding the ASEAN
Charter, and any ratification should be made after we find the best solutions,"
Andreas was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.
There is no official
deadline for the ratification.
ASEAN leaders have agreed that all ten member
states must ratify the charter before a summit in Bangkok this December.
The
lawmakers are split over several provisions, including the decision-making
process, the sanctions mechanism for non- compliance and the power of the ASEAN
human rights body.
The National Mandate Party's (PAN) Abdillah Toha said if
the disputes remained unresolved by the end of the House term, the default
option would be to reject the ratification.
Concerns have mounted that the
charter has been heavily watered down from its original form to accommodate the
members states' varying levels of democracy, freedom of expression and human
rights.
Seven ASEAN countries have already ratified the charter, leaving only
Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia yet to do so.
Xinhua
|
