Kuala Lumpur---Southeast Asia's timid diplomacy and a see-no-evil approach to human-trafficking is to blame for its boatpeople influx, and overcoming the crisis will pose a severe test for a region loathe to address divisive issues, diplomats and analysts said.
In particular, the region has allowed the problem to fester by failing to curb Myanmar's systematic abuse of its unwanted Rohingya people, which has sent masses of the Muslim ethnic minority fleeing abroad, they said.
One of the most cherished core principles of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- to which Myanmar belongs -- is its pledge of non-interference in other members' internal affairs.
But that has come back to bite ASEAN, said Elliot Brennan, a researcher at Sweden's Institute for Security and Development Policy who studies the bloc.
"Ultimately, this is a problem of ASEAN's own making -- one borne of an outdated non-interference policy," he said.
"(The boatpeople crisis) puts enormous pressure on the bloc to rethink its policy of non-interference."
Even Europe, which enjoys far greater political cohesion and resources than ASEAN, is struggling to deal with an influx of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
An EU proposal to distribute asylum-seekers among its members has sown division, but a robust debate is under way and there is broad agreement that something must be done.
Southeast Asia, however, will find it harder to muster political will, particularly given the added challenge that one of its own -- Myanmar -- is a major source of refugees, analysts said.
Significant numbers also are economic migrants from non-ASEAN member Bangladesh, further complicating the matter.
- Diplomatic eggshells -
These factors will hinder aggressive action as countries tip-toe over the diplomatic eggshells, including a reluctance to set an interventionist precedent that could boomerang against them later, said Chong Ja Ian, an ASEAN expert at National University of Singapore.
"There are many layers of complexity involved, including the non-intervention policy and critiquing other fellow ASEAN governments in ways that set precedents that members are uncomfortable with," he said, adding ASEAN does "not seem ready to handle this migrant issue".
Most immediately, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand must determine how to deal with the rickety boats filled with hundreds of sick and starving migrants.
They have drawn global criticism for turning away vessels, apparently worried about sending a green light to the migrants.
"If countries in the region take these Rohingya in, then it would send (that) signal and will encourage Myanmar to drive out all of its Rohingya population," said Syed Hamid Albar, Malaysia's former foreign minister and now its representative on Rohingya issues to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
AFP
