Page 142 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Ethics of ASEAN

A decade ago, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) made a radical pivot on human rights: from—
variously—rejection, abuse, denial, and indifference, to
institutional embrace and rhetorical enthusiasm.

However, we also saw in our dialogues of Part 2 that several speakers mentioned reversals
of political freedom and human rights in ASEAN and worldwide. These reversals are built
on a resurgence in virtue ethics and, in some cases, quite simply the will to preserve
political power.
This constitutes a danger for ASEAN and I will illustrate what I mean with some
contemporary ASEAN examples.
In Myanmar the military coup of 2021, which we mentioned several times in the
dialogues, is based on the extension of systematic violations of human rights by the
military over decades, culminating in the 2016 ethnic cleansing and genocide by the
military.
2
In the 2023 general election Thailand, a coalition of pro-democracy parties
successfully challenged the military and royalist government. But the winning party was
unable to take the reins of power, blocked by pro-establishment Senators chosen in 2019
by the military regime headed by coup leader General Prayut Chan-o-cha. Thailand has
3
experienced more military coup d’états in modern history than any other nation with a total
of 22 successful or attempted coups in the past century.
In Cambodia, the 38-year strongman rule of Hun Sen was passed down to his son Hun
Manet in 2023 in a vote where all opposition parties had been jailed or disqualified to run.
The United Nations has long urged Cambodia to open up its civic and political space of free
speech and end persecution of political opposition leaders and human rights defenders.
In the Philippines, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa gave an eloquent
argument for freedom of the press and described how social media are used to manipulate
elections with fake news and online hate speech.
In Indonesia, the new Penal Code passed by Parliament in 2022 bans all sex outside
or before marriage, giving the State powers to police sexual morality and invade privacy.
Human rights groups claim that the new law is a setback for personal freedom and
makes especially vulnerable women and citizens identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT). 4
Not everyone would agree that the countries mentioned in these examples show
a definitive and long-term reversal of freedom and human rights. Nor are all ASEAN
members regressing. Singapore, while still tightly controlling freedom of speech, press
freedom and freedom of assembly has recently improved rights of the LGBT community
2 UN Human Rights Council “ Human Rights Council opens special session on the situation of human rights of
the Rohingya and other minorities in Rakhine State in Myanmar” Press Release, 5 December 2017 https://www.
ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2017/12/human-rights-council-opens-special-session-situation-human-rights-
rohingya?LangID=E&NewsID=22491 retrieved 26 July 2023.
3 Amnesty International, “Thailand: Election offers rare chance for candidates to commit to safeguarding human
rights”14 May, Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4574000220 retrieved 26 July 2023
4 Human Rights Watch “Indonesia: New Criminal Code Disastrous for Rights” 8 December 2022 https://www.hrw.
org/news/2022/12/08/indonesia-new-criminal-code-disastrous-rights retrieved 27 July 2023.

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