ASEAN: Is Myanmar the First Crack in Solidarity?

Citing a lack of progress toward democracy, a group of Southeast Asian parliamentarians issued a statement Nov. 29 calling for Myanmar not to serve as chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2005, and to suspend its membership from the organization. Issued by the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar during ASEAN's annual summit in Vientiane, Laos, the statement is a departure from ASEAN's traditional charter of non-interference in members' internal affairs and from its role as a primarily economic issue-based organization. Although the caucus' recommendation is nonbinding, it indicates ASEAN's fragmenting unity.