Indigenous Peoples are not at all mentioned or referred to in any ASEAN document, even though they are an integral part of the ASEAN Community and among its most vulnerable sectors, whose interest the ASEAN has committed itself to protect. The failure of the ASEAN to address the plight of its Indigenous Peoples despite its expressed commitment to human rights and social justice is a shortcoming that needs to be corrected urgently. Unless Indigenous Peoples are fully recognized as integral part of a culturally diverse ASEAN, and unless Indigenous ...

In 1776, just when the Declaration of Independence was being adopted in this country, Thomas Paine complained, in Common Sense, that Asia had “long expelled” freedom. In this lament, Paine saw Asia in company with much of the rest of the world (America, he hoped, would be different). Singapore warned that “universal recognition of the ideal of human rights can be harmful if universalism is used to deny or mask the reality of diversity.” The Chinese delegation played a leading role in emphasizing regional differences and in making sure that the ...