'ASEAN has to be in the driving seat'<\/p>\n
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
\nmeet in Vientiane on Monday to adopt a roadmap for the
\nestablishment of an ASEAN Community consisting of three pillars
\n-- an Economic Community, Security Community and Socio-Cultural
\nCommunity. Before his departure to the Laotian capital, Foreign
\nminister Hassan Wirayuda recently spoke to The Jakarta Post
\nMeidyatama Suryadiningrat and Endy M. Bayuni about these
\npreparations, and the future of East Asia integration.<\/p>\n
How are preparations progressing in the drafting of action
\nplans for the ASEAN Community?
\nOut of the three pillars, the most difficult and sensitive in
\nexpanding into a plan of action is the Security Community because
\nit relates to a wide spectrum of political and security issues.
\nAnd yet we succeeded, during a meeting of ASEAN Foreign ministers
\nhere in June, to accept the proposal for the plan of action to be
\nrecommended to the leaders.<\/p>\n
The plan of action for the Economic Community had already been
\ndrafted, so there was just the Socio-Cultural Community left.
\nThat was approved by the ASEAN foreign minister on the sidelines
\nof the UN General Assembly meeting in New York recently.<\/p>\n
In one year (since the ASEAN Summit in Bali 2003) we not only
\ncompleted the drafting of the ASEAN Community concept, the
\nVientiane Action Program (VAP), but also the plans of action for
\nthe individual pillars, which include a list of activities that
\nneed to be done between now and 2020.<\/p>\n
So everything for the implementation and establishment of the
\nASEAN Community for the next five years has been well planned. We
\ndid not only discuss things on the conceptual level, but on a
\nmore practical one.
\nThese documents are all very interesting for the diplomat and
\nforeign policy addict, but what does it really do for the people
\nin the region?<\/p>\n
Yes I understand what you mean. I've always said that
\nsometimes diplomacy is quite distant from matters that concern
\nthe stomach. However, at the end of the day, these things do
\naffect the welfare of the people. There is of course a distance,
\na process that some do not appreciate, between diplomacy and the
\naverage person's quality of life.<\/p>\n
People forget that the era of relative peace (in the region)
\nthat most of us have taken for granted over the past 37 years is
\na product of that process. The absence of war (between ASEAN
\ncountries) has allowed member states to build their economies.
\nCompare this to other regions, which have not been blessed with a
\nsimilar period of harmony.<\/p>\n
Another example is how the ASEAN Free Trade Area has helped
\nboost intra-ASEAN trade an average of 14 percent per year. this
\nhas directly helped the Indonesian economy.
\nWith all these new objectives, how do you envision ASEAN in the
\ncoming decade?<\/p>\n
One of the most prominent will be the continuance of economic
\nintegration. Freedom of movement of goods, services and skilled
\nlabor will be much more open than it is now.<\/p>\n
The challenge is that competition among members will increase.
\nSo the question will be how ready Indonesia is to face these
\nchallenges.
\nWe also know that apart from the ASEAN Summit, there will be a
\nmeeting between ASEAN leaders and their counterparts from China,
\nJapan and South Korea (ASEAN+3). Is this a further de facto
\nformalization of East Asia integration?<\/p>\n
People can say what they want, but what we have here is a
\nunique process in which three major powers are meeting at a
\ngathering in which the ASEAN countries are in the driver's seat.
\nThis (ASEAN+3 Summit series) actually began in Kuala Lumpur in
\n1997. Some people are becoming impatient and questioning why this
\nprocess of integration is still employing the ASEAN+3 vehicle.
\nThere is a push for it to develop more rapidly into an East Asia
\nSummit.<\/p>\n
Some are very impatient for this to happen. Of course, the
\n'Plus Three' nations want it to happen because they feel that the
\ncurrent process is too confined within the ASEAN context. They
\nare already asking us why they are not being allowed the
\nopportunity to host the ASEAN+3 Summit meeting.<\/p>\n
And even within ASEAN, some believe that it is time to look at
\nan 'East Asia Community' that can be expedited through an East
\nAsia Summit. That question was actually posed during the ASEAN
\nMinisterial Meeting earlier this year in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
But there is also an opposite question that we should ask
\nourselves: Is ASEAN ready to engage in such an ambitious
\nundertaking in a separate or parallel track (to the ones already
\nin existence?<\/p>\n
From an Indonesian perspective, we should ask ourselves
\nwhether the level of cohesiveness among ASEAN members has reached
\na level that allows us to engage in a new process with the three
\nmajor powers without ASEAN itself losing its identity?<\/p>\n
Keep in mind that ASEAN is just embarking on the process to
\nbuild an ASEAN Community. Why don't we then just utilize the
\nalready established vehicle of ASEAN+3, which already comprises
\nall the concerned parties?<\/p>\n
Indonesia understands that East Asia integration is
\ninevitable. And we are for closer interaction among all 13
\ncountries. We are talking about a huge market of some two billion
\npeople, with a combined economy of US$11 trillion.<\/p>\n
But we need to conduct sufficient studies before making any
\nbinding decisions on proceeding with an East Asia Summit as a
\nseparate track, while keeping in mind that ASEAN has to be in the
\ndriver's seat.<\/p>",
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