Active citizenry needed to support creation of AEC<\/p>\n
M. Sauri Hasibuan, FORTECH Consulting, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Bali has among
\nothers produced a communique supporting the creation of an "ASEAN
\nEconomic Community" (AEC). This is the right time to strengthen
\nASEAN, especially given current U.S. arrogance in the region.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia and Thailand, Washington is unashamedly using the
\nInternational Monetary Fund to push its decade-long bilateral
\nagenda of dismantling trade and investment barriers to U.S. goods
\nand investment in the countries of the Association of Southeast
\nAsian Nations.<\/p>\n
The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), aimed at creating a regional
\nmarket benefiting mainly its producers and consumers, has been
\nrudely pushed aside by an IMF-directed trade and financial
\nliberalization program promoting the interests principally of
\nWestern transnational corporations and banks.<\/p>\n
Washington is using ASEAN's weakness also to promote its
\nmilitary and political goals. Back in 1998 the U.S. pressed the
\nPhilippines to pass the Visiting Forces Agreement, paving the way
\nfor the reentry of large numbers of U.S. troops into the country.
\nThe Americans were also pushing Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia
\nto conduct more joint military exercises with U.S. troops,
\nallegedly to improve the security capabilities of those
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
All this should remind ASEAN policy leaders that there is no
\nshortcut to creating a solid ASEAN economic regional bloc.
\nEconomic and political disturbances will continue to plague the
\nregion until its members gradually follow the U.S. demands.<\/p>\n
Also, different governments have different visions of
\nresponding to AFTA in paving the way for the creation of AEC.
\nSome like the Philippines and Singapore, where free market views
\ndominate among trade technocrats, see the reduction of tariffs
\nregionally as a step toward eventual integration into a global
\nfree trade system.<\/p>\n
Others, like Indonesia and to some extent Malaysia, see
\npreferential regional trade as creating a large, protected
\nregional market that will stimulate regional industrialization
\nvia import substitution.<\/p>\n
Aligning the platforms of ASEAN members should therefore be
\naccomplished before any other programs are implemented. Indeed,
\nthe proposal for accelerated strategic economic cooperation is
\none that should have been floated at least a decade ago, when
\nJapan, South Korea and ASEAN were enjoying a degree of growth and
\nprosperity. Walden Bello, a prominent authority on the East Asia
\npolitical economy, asserts that one reason that this was not done
\nwas a fear of Washington.<\/p>\n
He says that the fault lies on both sides. In the case of
\nJapan, it was a fear of Washington. The early 1990s were the
\nyears when APEC was being pushed around by the U.S. and Australia
\nas a trans-Pacific free trade area.<\/p>\n
Japan wanted to stop the APEC blueprint, but it did not want
\nto antagonize Washington by openly endorsing an opposing mode of
\nregional integration. It wanted to distance itself from anything
\nthat might have been seen as supporting the proposal for an East
\nAsia Economic Grouping, a vision of a unified economic bloc
\ninvolving ASEAN, China, the two Koreas and Japan proposed by
\nPrime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia.<\/p>\n
In forming the AEC, ASEAN member countries should reflect on
\nthe consequences of Japan's failure to carry through the proposal
\nfor the creation of an "Asian Monetary Fund", which would have
\npooled together the reserves of the more prosperous countries to
\nserve as a pool of funds which members whose currencies were
\nunder speculative attack could have access to.<\/p>\n
The need for ASEAN to form the AEC is nothing but pragmatic.
\nEurope has achieved much success and a strong bargaining position
\nafter integrating the markets of countries in Europe.<\/p>\n
ASEAN could better achieve its economic and business
\nobjectives if member countries closely integrated their markets
\nand started listing a priority agenda for the coming year.<\/p>\n
China and India have become the primary areas in Asia
\nattracting investment, chiefly for their sheer size of economic
\noutput and potential markets.<\/p>\n
One big integrated market potentially would attract business a
\nlot easier if free trade mechanisms and tariff reductions were
\nimplemented consistently in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
ASEAN policy makers must learn from the past that the
\nformation of the AEC should not remain an elite project in which
\nthe nature, purpose and direction are discussed mainly among
\ntechnocratic and the political elite.<\/p>\n
The people must be brought into the equation in terms of
\nmobilizing them to support the arrangement. There is widespread
\nrealization in government, economic and academic circles that
\nwithout closer regional ties, most East Asian countries will be
\nmarginalized in a global economy dominated by big blocs such as
\nthe European Union and the North Free Trade Area.<\/p>\n
Mobilizing people in support of the AEC project means ensuring
\nthat the institutions involved will allow participation of labor
\nunions, grassroots organizations, environmental organizations and
\nother civil society elements in the decision making process.<\/p>\n
The days when technocrats, politicians and the industrialized
\nelite monopolized the process of making decisions when it came to
\nregional coordination are over. Civil society groups are on the
\nrise and will increasingly demand to be included in decision
\nmaking in this decade.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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