Delegates start arriving in Jakarta for 18th ASEAN meet

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Amid tightened security, delegates from the 10 member-countries started arriving in Jakarta Friday morning for the 18th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit scheduled on May 7 and 8. A statement from the ASEAN said some 7,000 police and military personnel have been deployed to secure the proceedings. Of the number, 4,385 policemen were sent to secure the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), which will be the venue of the summit. “The security forces are strategically positioned in and around the Summit site and along the streets designated as routes for heads of state and ASEAN Summit delegates from and to Soekarno-Hatta Airport, their hotels and Jakarta Convention Center," the statement read. ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan earlier called for vigilance against terrorism after US President Barack Obama announced the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The security personnel were checking vehicles going into the JCC and those without identification cards issued by the Summit Organizing Committee were barred from entering the venue. They even closed some of the passage leading to JCC from the nearby Hotel Sultan. Hotel guests wishing to get to Summit events must enter through the designated gate guarded by the Paspampres Presidential Security Team. "Sorry, but unless you have an ID Card, we can’t let you in," said one of the committee women assigned to monitor the entrance between Hotel Sultan and JCC. Cambodia-Thai meeting Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Nam arrived around 11 a.m. and met with ASEAN Chairman and Indonesia Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Raden Mohammad Marty Natalegawa. Natalegawa will also meet with Thailand Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya who is scheduled to arrive in the afternoon. Cambodia and Thailand are in a border dispute over temple Preah Vihear, which was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in July 2008. An international court awarded the temple to Cambodia 49 years ago, but both countries lay claim to a 4.6 sq km (1.8 sq mile) patch of land around it. The foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand will meet after their respective meetings with Natalegawa. Indonesia had asked the two countries to settle the dispute peacefully. At least eight people have been killed in armed confrontations at the border this year. The leaders of the ASEAN member-countries are set to arrive later in the evening. Meanwhile, Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III is scheduled to arrive at the Halim Perdanakusuma military airbase in Jakarta around 8p.m. (9 p.m. in Manila). It will be his second time to attend the Summit since he assumed the presidency in June last year. His first was in Vietnam in November 2010. Aquino will be accompanied by a 54-man delegation, which will be received by Indonesian officials, permanent representative of the Philippines to the ASEAN Wilfrido Villacorta, Charge d’Affaires Maria Rosario Aguinaldo, and other Philippine officials. Aquino is expected to push for a declaration on the conduct of parties contesting the Spratly Islands, among other issues. The Philippines maintains it has claims on the Spratlys. Other ASEAN member countries that have claims on the disputed group of islands are Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. China and Taiwan are among states claiming the Spratlys. Earlier this year, a Philippine-sanctioned exploration vessel claimed it was harassed by Chinese military ships in the Reed Bank area. Summit host Indonesia, being the chairman of ASEAN, is the host of this year’s summit having the the theme: “ASEAN Community in a Global Community of Nations." Among the activities set are the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting with ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Representatives, ASEAN Leaders’ Informal Meeting with Youth Representatives and Leaders’ Informal Meeting with Civil Society Organization’s Representatives and the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Areas (BIMP- EAGA) Summit. Aside from Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia, the other member states of the ASEAN are Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei and Myanmar. Indonesia, which is composed of 17, 508 islands and 33 provinces, has a population of 238 million and the world’s fourth most populous country. It also has the world’s largest population of Muslims. Before the Summit proper, foreign and trade secretaries of the 10 member-countries held a preparatory meeting to update themselves on their agreements. — LBG, GMA News