1 THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-INTERFERENCE IN ASEAN : REVISITING AN OLD AND TESTED STRATEGY IN REGIONAL COOPERATION. MUHAMMAD FUAD OTHMAN ZAHERUDDIN OTHMAN COLLEGE OF LAW, GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL STUIDIES UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA SINTOK, MALAYSIA. 1- Introduction The Principle of Non-interference into the internal affairs of ASEAN member states has been the long and trusted ‘modus operandi’ since the inception of the Association in 1967. This method of non-inclusiveness relation has gone through several phases of changes in almost all fields of cooperation except when it concerns political-security issues. This paper intends to discuss why this principle has been accepted, embraced and defended by most of ASEAN members despite urges from international community to the association to modify the doctrine in order to make ASEAN relevant and progressive. The reoccurrence of the `Myanmar Issue’, the politically motivated court case against Aung Sun Suu Kyii, has once again marred ASEAN’s image as a regional power house. In the final analysis, the author wish to propose some significant amendments to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) which embedded the non-interference principle as one of the most important pre-requisite in intra- regional relations. 2- The Origin of the Principle The non-interference principle (NIP) has been one of the most important guidelines for ASEAN internal relations. This principle, which is a part of the larger doctrine of the ‘ASEAN Way’, has been embedded in all ASEAN major documents and continues to be its modus operandi. However, as ASEAN membership became larger and the region started to experience significant incidents such as the 1997-98 Asian economic/financial crisis, environmental crises, the suppression of political and democratic movements, the global IT and information revolution, and the proliferation of human rights movements, the effectiveness of the non-interference policy in solving regional conflicts has been targeted for re-examination. The concept of non-interference was first introduced in ASEAN’s Bangkok Declaration of 1967. This foundation document states that the region wanted to be free from outside interference in its internal affairs (Ramcharan, 2000:1). It was further solidified in the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) 1971, in Article 2, which acts as a general guideline for intra regional relationships between states. Among other things, the article commits ASEAN member states to have: - mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations; - the right of every state to lead its national existence, free from external interference, subversion or coercion; and - non-interference in the internal affairs of another member states.