A Victory for Regionalism

In most major showdowns between regional aspirations and national pride, nationalism usually triumphs. An exception took place at last week's meeting in Djakarta of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, made up of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. Their promising, year-old political and economic association was bedeviled by the nastiest neighborhood dispute between two ASEAN members since Indonesia's konfrontasi with Malaysia ended in 1966. Encouragingly, regionalism came out on top.

At issue was the Philippines' claim to the Malaysian state of Sabah. The dispute is one of the more complicated quarrels on the international scene, but is not without a certain fascination of its own. The plot goes something like this; Sabah is a 29,000-sq.-mi. chunk of Borneo, rich in timber, rubber, tobacco and untapped mineral wealth. It is located in the Sulu Sea only 20 miles from the southernmost Philippine Islands. Once a haunt of Moro pirates, Sabah was signed over in perpetuity to the British in 1878 by its ruler, the Sultan of Sulu, in return for an annual honorarium of 5,000 Straits dollars (now worth $1,700). In 1963, when colonialism's day was done, the British bequeathed Sabah to the new Federation of Malaysia.

Sabah's mixed population of 600,000 consider themselves Malaysian and like it. But the nearby Philippine Sulu islanders would like to share in Sabah's booming economy, and that is how Manila gets into the act. The Philippine Sulus are putting considerable pressure on the Manila government to get hold of the territory. Acting for the Sultan's heirs, who live in the Philippines, the Manila government claims that the original agreement merely leased Sabah to the British instead of ceding it. Last month, talks in Bangkok broke down, and Manila threatened to withdraw its ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, a rupture that could have scuttled ASEAN as a promising vessel for Southeast Asian cooperation.

On the Line. Djakarta proved a happier setting for negotiations. In private meetings last week, Philippine Foreign Minister Narciso Ramos and Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak agreed to a "cooling off period," to last indefinitely, or at least, the Malaysians hoped, until after the Philippine national elections next year. Ramos made it clear that the agreement could prove a personal albatross: "It hangs around my neck. I expect to be criticized when I get back. In fact, I may be roasted alive." The Philippine government could repudiate Ramos' commitment at Djakarta, but only at the price of withdrawing from ASEAN.

That does not seem likely, since ASEAN has grown in importance over the last year for all five of its member nations. Both the British decision to withdraw its forces east of Suez and the Paris peace talks have sharply altered Asian horizons. "Ultimately," as Ramos put it, "we have got to rely on our own resources and energies to protect our lives and our fortunes." ASEAN clearly could evolve into one means to that common end.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.