Myanmar was allowed to become an observer of the regional association at the 29th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) held in Jakarta in July 1996 and one month later, the country applied for full membership. At the special AMM in Kuala Lumpur on 31 May 1997, it was decided that Myanmar would be accepted as a fullfledged member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in July 1997, along with Cambodia and Laos. Despite protests from the United States and its allies to defer this decision on account of Myanmar's alleged human rights violations, Myanmar was formally admitted at a special ceremony held in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, on 23 July 1997 and Myanmar took part fully in ASEAN's 30th anniversary celebrations. Laos was admitted at the same time as Myanmar, however, Cambodia's admission was delayed due to political unrest in that country. The first ever meeting of the leaders of the ten Southeast Asian countries took place during this summit.

This historic decision by ASEAN of admitting Myanmar and Laos was in line with the Bangkok Declaration of 1995, issued after the Fifth ASEAN Summit to which Myanmar's then Prime Minister Senior General Than Shwe was invited by the host country for the first time. Myanmar's process of joining ASEAN which was initiated by the country's accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) at the 28th AMM in Brunei in July 1995 was most probably triggered by political considerations but there are both political and economic dimensions to the benefits accruing from Myanmar's membership in ASEAN.

Myanmar's joining of ASEAN was not a smooth process. Even from inside ASEAN, voices of dissent against the admission of Myanmar into the regional association were heard. First, we should explore what were the reasons behind Myanmar's joining ASEAN — from Myanmar's perspective as well as that of ASEAN.

WHY MYANMAR DECIDED TO JOIN ASEAN

Soon after the formation of ASEAN in 1967 and also later on, Myanmar was approached by friends in ASEAN to join the regional association. However, at that time Myanmar was, as a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, adhering to the five principles of peaceful co-existence and neutrality, and decided not to join ASEAN.