Asia, ME political leaders urged to minimize military expenditures

MAKASSAR, Indonesia – Political leaders from the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East are urging states to minimize military expenditures and devote more resources to economic and social development, particularly poverty reduction.

Speaking at the Centrist Asia Pacific Democrats International (CAPDI) second general assembly here, former President Fidel Ramos said expensive military budgets should be regulated to create savings and investments for the alleviation of poverty.

He said the governments should devote more money to public infrastructure such as farm-to-market roads to address poverty.

“The Asia Pacific’s continued economic growth, sustained progress and durable stability require that we Asians contain our rivalries and avoid the arms build-ups that now seem to be underway, and unfortunately, bloat our national budgets,” Ramos, chairman emeritus of CAPDI, said.

Ramos made the call as countries in the region, including China and India, have reportedly ramped up military spending even as territorial disputes continue to flare.

Sir James Mancham, former president of the Republic of Seychelles and CAPDI vice president, also pushed for governments’ least diversion of resources for armaments.

“We spend 30 times more on armaments and yet we speak about poverty,” he said.

Mancham also stressed that trust-building is needed to promote lasting peace.

“The lack of trust is the basis of so many problems,” he said.

CAPDI adopted on Tuesday the Makassar Declaration that focused on peace, security and reconciliation in Asia.

“We believe that national defense does not rest solely on the control of power and ownership of weapons, but rather on the strengthening of economic, social and cultural cooperation,” the declaration read.

“We believe also that size does not necessarily equal strength, since the strength of the country emanates primarily from institutions having legitimacy under the rule of law and credibility in the eyes of the people, and the supremacy of the ballot over bombs and bullets,” it said.

“We recommend the establishment of an intergovernmental working group to create instruments of common security, common stability and common prosperity that would rule out the use of force in Asia Pacific, which shall complement the ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation,” it added.

Former House speaker and CAPDI president Jose de Venecia Jr. explained the organization strongly pushed for Track 2 diplomacy in solving disputes.

Track 2 diplomacy engages retired government and military officials, academics, activists, civil society members and individuals involved in the private sector and business to tackle specific issues that cannot be adequately addressed at the government-to-government level.

Track 1 diplomacy, on the other hand, is the formal diplomacy that engages government officials to resolve conflicts between states.

“We will do it (Track 2 diplomacy) within the ASEAN process and outside ASEAN process because CAPDI is in Africa, Latin America and Europe and the countries who want arbitration must request it and our preference is quiet diplomacy, the two sides must request it,” De Venecia said in an interview with Manila-based journalists.

Founded in 2006, CAPDI is a non-profit organization that plays an active role in international political affairs.

CAPDI’s members include active and former world leaders, executives, legislators and academics.

Recently, two of Asia’s Nobel Peace Prize winners – former president and Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta of East Timor and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar – joined CAPDI’s Council of Eminent Persons.