By Kittipong Thavevong
The Nation
Cha-am, Phetchaburi
Representatives from the civil society on Saturday expressed resentment at the exclusion of two colleagues from Burma and Cambodia for an unprecedented meeting with Asean government leaders.
The meeting was organised at the side of the 14th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations taking place in Cha-am and Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district.
Asean leaders also met with parliamentarians, youths and businesspeople from the grouping's member states.
The activists denounced the leaders of Burma and Cambodia for barring those two civil-society representatives from the meeting.
However, they praised Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya for coming out of the meeting venue to talk to the excluded representatives.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Burma's Prime Minister General Thein Sein earlier threatened to boycott the meeting if the persons in question were allowed to attend the meeting.
"They are not respecting the Asean Charter, which aims to be people-centred," said Soe Aung, spokesman for the Forum for Democracy in Burma.
He said what happened has raised doubts about the sincerity of certain Asean leaders in allowing civil society's participation in the process of creating a people-centred Asean.
Representatives from Laos and Brunei opted not to take part in the meeting. Only civil-society representatives from six other Asean countries attended, according to Suntaree Sengking, one of the participants from Thailand.
Soe Aung warned that without real participation of peoples, the Asean Charter would not become effective. "Asean will not go further," he said.
Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma, said the Burmese and Cambodian leaders "sabotaged" the Asean leaders' meeting with civil-society representatives.
"They are abusing not only their own peoples, but also Asean and the host Thailand," she said.
Stothard, however, praised Thailand's prime minister and foreign minister for their "show of solidarity" with the spurned civil-society representatives.
Soe Aung also was impressed by the hosts' action. "They [Abhisit and Kasit] told us that our voice will be heard and they will convey our message to other Asean leaders," said Soe Aung.
Soe Aung and Stothard were talking to reporters at the press centre.
Stothard's unofficial press conference was interrupted by a sudden loud music. The interruption forced her and other civil-society representatives, who joined later, to move outdoors for further interviews with the media.
Abhisit later told reporters at a subsequent press conference in the summit venue that the format of the civil society representatives' meeting with the Asean leaders was organised as agreed earlier with the Foreign Ministry.
He said that the representatives raised concern over human rights issues, particularly involving Burma, during the meeting and that the Asean leaders shared views with them.
The PM said the Asean leaders listened to views from the civil society and would allow further participation. He said the Asean Secretariat would help create necessary process for that.
