The ASEAN Community: An overview

AYLA | 11 November 2015Dr Linda Quayle | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

As ASEAN moves on from 2015, I very respectfully suggest 8 dos and don’ts…… with which you are most welcome to disagree!

DOs

1. DO emphasize the ASCC

“Southeast Asia cannot be an enduring security community or an effective economic community – indeed it cannot be an ASEAN Community in its truest and deepest sense – without being a socio-cultural community” (Severino, 2006, 368-70)

Severino, Rodolfo C. (2006). Southeast Asia in Search of an ASEAN Community: Insights From the Former ASEAN Secretary-General. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing.

Why?

Why?

The ASCC is the glue... The areas it covers are the areas that

touch people’s lives – the environment, food, education, welfare, disaster relief, etc

These are the areas that can make ASEAN real

Free flow of goods, services, investment and skilled labour

Freer flow of capital Global competitiveness Integration into the global economy

ASEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITYThe need to “ensure that all ASEAN peoples are

provided with social welfare and protection from the possible negative impacts of globalisation and integration”

ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY

ASEAN. (2009). Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009-2015. Retrieved from http://www.asean.org/images/2012/publications/RoadmapASEANCommunity.pdf

ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY

2. DO encourage more young people to do what YOU are doing

Publicizing ASEAN Getting people enthusiastic about ASEANShowing people in THEIR language how it is

relevant to THEM Getting out into the villages and small towns

and making it possible for people to know not just what ASEAN IS but what ASEAN DOES

Making sure your government takes ASEAN seriously

Respondents with diploma or above, 2009

Benny, G., & Abdullah, K. (2011). Indonesian Perceptions and Attitudes Toward the ASEAN Community. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 30(1), 39-67.

General public and business communities (ASEAN capitals, 2012) http://www.asean.org/images/2013/resources/publication/Surveys%20on%20ASEAN%20Community%20Building%20Effort%202012%20a.pdf

“Most of the respondents could list nine of the 10 countries of ASEAN, and they managed to identify seven on the map.

“Nearly 85% could identify the ASEAN flag ... and even more impressive, close to half the respondents knew the founding year of ASEAN – 1967.

“But scoring high on ASEAN trivia is one thing; actually understanding and identifying with the organisation is another altogether” (Lee, 2015).

Thompson, Eric C., & Chulanee Thianthai. (2008). Attitudes and Awareness Towards ASEAN: Findings of a Ten-Nation Survey. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing; Lim, May Lee. (2015). ASEAN Values. Star2.com. Retrieved from http://rage.com.my/asean-values/

A 2014 university survey

Semester 2/2014-15: student research (Regionalism in World Politics: The Case of ASEAN)

Semester 1/2015-16: guest class

“Like other regional groupings, the reality facing ASEAN is that it is essentially a diplomatic community of policymakers, journalists and academics which has not sunk deep roots. “ASEAN has been outstanding in the developing world in promoting regional stability and security, preventing inter-state conflict as well as promoting regional economic cooperation and development.

“The risk is that the extravagant claims for a Community (with a capital ‘C’) may outstrip their capacity to deliver” (Desker, 2015).

Desker, Barry. (2015). ASEAN's New Era: Challenges Amid Growing Cooperation. RSIS Commentary, 167. Retrieved from https://www.rsis.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/CO15167.pdf

“Noting that ASEAN did not rank high in the national agendas of its member states and was relatively unknown amongst the general public, Termsak [Chalermpalanupap] said that national politicians did not feel obligated to implement the bloc’s decisions…” (Son, 2015)

Son, Johanna. (2015). Five Decades On, Is ASEAN Ready To Grow Up? The Irrawaddy. Retrieved from http://www.irrawaddy.org/contributor/five-decades-on-is-asean-ready-to-grow-up.html

3. DO keep working to facilitate intra-regional connectivity

“ASEAN becomes relevant to the young when they can identify with its promises and goals, and when they see in ASEAN a vehicle through which they can also expand their horizon of opportunities in the future” (Noor, 2013).

Noor, Farish A. (2013). Rebranding Will Boost ASEAN's Image. New Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/rebranding-will-boost-asean-s-image-1.261178#ixzz2RFQ6fcQP

Mobility matters

What turns people on about ASEAN?

Travel possibilitiesEducational

possibilitiesBusiness

possibilities

Semester 2/2014-15: student research (Regionalism in World Politics: The Case of ASEAN)

Connectivity isn’t easy…http://thediplomat.com/2015/06/aseans-connectivity-challenge/

“In the near term, ASEAN’s growing connectivity, especially in communications and transport infrastructure, may turn out to be an effective substitute for integration (Thitinan, 2015).

Thitinan Pongsudhirak. (2015). AC Limps to Year-End Deadline and Beyond. Bangkok Post. Retrieved from http://www.bangkokpost.com/archive/ac-limps-to-year-end-deadline-and-beyond/554859

… but it’s vital

4. DO keep working to close the gaps

GDP per capita (current US$ 2013)

Luxembourg: Bulgaria 0000000000 0000 :0

Luxembourg: Albania 0000000000 0000000000 00000 :0

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD/countries

Singapore: Myanmar 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0 :0

Interstate gaps are significant

Country HDI ranking, 2014 (out of 186 countries)Singapore 9 “very high human development”Brunei 30Malaysia 62 “high human development”Thailand 89Indonesia 108 “medium human development”Philippines 117Viet Nam 121Timor Leste 128Cambodia 136Laos 139Myanmar 150 “low human development”

http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-1-human-development-index-and-its-components

And so are intrastate gaps

Country Gini coefficient 1990

Gini coefficient 2012

Change

Indonesia 29.2 38.1 8.9Malaysia 47.7 46.2 -1.4Philippines 43.8 43.0 -0,8Thailand 45.3 39.4 -5.4Viet Nam 35.7 35.6 -0.1

ESCAP. (2015). Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific -- Part 1. Retrieved from http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Economic%20and%20Social%20Survey%20of%20Asia%20and

%20the%20Pacific%202015.pdf

DON’Ts

5. DON’T be haunted by Europe

How should we see the EU?

Don't idealize or idolize Europe... Yes, Europe is an interesting model of

community-building, which may well have suggestions to make in some areas

But…

“ASEAN's integration will never be like Europe. The DNA is different. ASEAN is more cooperative in design, Europe collective... ASEAN is attempting to do something no other regional organisations have done — to promote integration without supranationality” (Thitinan, 2015).

Thitinan Pongsudhirak. (2015). AC Limps to Year-End Deadline and Beyond. Bangkok Post. Retrieved from http://www.bangkokpost.com/archive/ac-limps-to-year-end-deadline-and-beyond/554859

Marching to a different drum

6. DON’T be too quick to abandon consensus…

“ASEAN is shifting itself away from an ‘association’ guided by the ASEAN Way, to a rules-based ‘Community’ under the ASEAN Charter. This balance between the old and the new will be difficult to pinpoint...

“There will always be a fine line between the ASEAN Way and the advent of a rules-based Community.

“There will be issues where ASEAN activism succeeds in getting this balance right, there will be other times where its response will seem woefully inadequate” (Surakiart, 2015).

Surakiart Sathirathai. (2015). Eight Challenges ASEAN Must Overcome. Bangkok Post. Retrieved from http://www.bangkokpost.com/archive/eight-challenges-asean-must-overcome/648732

Between the old and the new

7. DON’T let nationalism get out of hand

Of course, national interests and national pride are important…

But they often look backwards, not forwards

They often see the world as zero-sum

What we need is smarter solutionsOutside-the-square Win-win

ASEAN’s greatest contribution?

Peace Despite the odds…

Enough? No. But still good…

People in Southeast Asia need “to appreciate the fact that if they have never experienced even a single day of war and bloodshed, it is thanks to the efforts of countless bureaucrats and diplomats who have been working behind the scenes to keep the region free of war” (Noor, 2013).

Noor, Farish A. (2013). Rebranding Will Boost ASEAN's Image. New Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/rebranding-will-boost-asean-s-image-1.261178#ixzz2RFQ6fcQP

8. DON’T forget how far we’ve come…

ASEAN “often cannot get its own members to implement its decisions. The bloc works at a ‘practically glacial pace’ and ‘every idea takes 10 years to mature,’ as ASEAN’s inaugural secretary-general, Malaysia’s Ajit Singh, put it…

“[But] [w]hen Singh … was asked if he had thought decades ago that the bloc could evolve into what it is today, he replied, ‘I would have been hard put to say yes’” (Son, 2015).

Son, Johanna. (2015). Five Decades On, Is ASEAN Ready To Grow Up? The Irrawaddy. Retrieved from http://www.irrawaddy.org/contributor/five-decades-on-is-asean-ready-to-grow-up.html

Thank you! And please stay in touch: Linda.Quayle@nottingham.edu.my