Human Rights in Southeast Asia: Choosing a Path for the United States

Charting the response to perceived violations of basic human rights in other countries has proved to be a daunting task for U.S. policy makers. Countries characterized by strong centralized governments have been especially resistant to efforts by those who have sought to moderate these countries' behavior with respect to their own populations. Curiously, while the end of the Cold War may have altered, and to some extent lessened, the threat to human rights in some parts of the world, it has exacerbated the problem in other sections of the globe. Nevertheless, some scholars see an increased movement in the international struggle for universally recognized human rights. They offer the 1993 United Nations World Conference on human rights in Vienna as proof of a grassroots movement for increased democracy and human rights. Unfortunately, governments in Southeast Asia remain largely resistant to this movement. The recalcitrance on the part of these governments to embrace expanded human rights is problematic for U.S. policy makers. This paper will first examine the possible security ramifications for the United States in light of continued human rights violations in Southeast Asia. To limit the scope of the paper, the author will concentrate the discussion on the United States' response to human rights violations in two Southeast Asia countries: Indonesia and Singapore. Both countries drew unfavorable comments from the recent U.S. State Department report on human rights. The author will review the options available to U.S. decision makers and propose a course of action.