MANILA: When the Association of South East Asian Nations was being expanded in the 1990s to include communist Vietnam, army-ruled Myanmar and poverty-stricken Laos and Cambodia, many wondered if the group’s unity was at risk.

The earlier members — Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and later Brunei — had after all coalesced over decades.

The first five formed ASEAN in 1967 in response to the wave of communism emanating from China and Vietnam; they were all unabashedly capitalist and, to varying degrees, democratic.

But when talk came up again this month of fresh tensions within ASEAN, it was a hoary problem which has plagued only some of the group’s founder members — territorial claims to Borneo.

The talk started in the Philippines, smarting under the forcible expulsion of tens of thousands of its nationals living illegally in the Malaysian part of Borneo. Children have died while being sent back and there have been allegations of minors being raped by Malaysian policemen.

“The core issue there is that the Philippines is feeling very humiliated over this, tens of thousands of Filipinos are being kicked out,” said Teodoro Benigno, a Manila political columnist.

“It’s the first time in our history that we have been kicked out. We have become boat people.”

The Philippines does not occupy any part of Borneo, a huge island square in the middle of Southeast Asia and home to fast-dwindling tropical rain forests and valuable minerals.

It is mostly divided between Indonesia and Malaysia and Brunei occupies a small corner.

Indonesia and Malaysia, both founder-members of ASEAN, were in a state of undeclared war in the early 1960s over territorial disputes and other differences. The Philippines, also a founder member, lays claim to the northern part of Borneo, called Sabah, which is just a few miles from its waters.

UNITY MORE REWARDING: But in the last three and a half decades, these countries have found ASEAN unity, its movement towards a free-trade area and increasing clout as an economic bloc more rewarding than contentious territorial disputes.

And it looks likely to remain that way.

“The Sabah territorial issue will simply lead to a lot of smoke and sound and fury but it will die down,” said Benigno. “They (ASEAN members) are engaged in mutually advantageous programmes and projects. ASEAN is a very important international organization and the Philippines certainly will see the merit of keeping harmony.”

Indonesia, which has also seen tens of thousands of its workers driven home by tough new Malaysian laws against illegals, has deliberately played down tensions. Senior government ministers have urged newspapers and local leaders to avoid emotive talk and respect the other country’s laws.

What helps, diplomats say, is the non-confrontational, consensus-driven diplomacy which has become ASEAN’s trademark over the years.

“The important thing is that in ASEAN we have learned to look at regional problems and work together to deal with them,” said Rodolfo Severino, the group’s secretary-general.

He spoke of other problems — several differences between Malaysia and Singapore and forest fires on Indonesia’s part of Borneo every now and then casting a choking haze over Malaysia and Singapore.

Mohamed Ariff, executive director at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, agreed that the Sabah and workers issues would not affect ASEAN overmuch, but said Kuala Lumpur should have been more careful.—Reuters