38 years on, ASEAN wants more action, less talk

38 years on, ASEAN wants more action, less talk

Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Thirty eight years after its establishment in Bangkok, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is now trying to
become an action-oriented group.

This was the core issue at the round table discussion titled
"Building the ASEAN Community: Prospects and Challenges",
organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

The ministry's director-general for ASEAN cooperation, Marty
Natalegawa, who was the moderator during the discussion, told the
participants that they would discuss how ASEAN should act in an
ever-changing world, and possibly take a leading role in
international relations. They also discussed the role of the
ASEAN secretariat in facilitating the community-building process.

Hadi Soesastro, the executive director of the Center for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), criticized ASEAN as
being a group that was adept at setting ambitious targets but
lacked seriousness in working out mechanisms.

"ASEAN should begin to get realistic by setting up
institutions on a regional basis. The tide is not on ASEAN's
side. Unless ASEAN is serious, it will lose its attractiveness,"
he told the discussion.

He later pointed out that ASEAN community-building, as part of
a process called "regionalism", required the states to surrender
some of their sovereignty, as in the case of the European
Community.

Sabam Siagian, a former Indonesian ambassador to Australia,
pointed out that ASEAN should care about the domestic problems of
neighbors if they wanted to become one community and benefit from
each other. He also asked ASEAN parliaments to become more active
in diplomacy to make up for their government's lack of action
resulting from the straitjacket of ASEAN's non-interference
principle.

The issues of human rights and democratization were also
highlighted in the discussion. Marzuki Darusman, a member of
Commission I for defense, information and foreign affairs,
stressed the need for ASEAN members to press ahead with their
neighbors to uphold the principles of human rights and
democratization.

"We should question whether ASEAN's reconciliation (with the
present political, economic and socio-cultural conditions) will
be able to steer ASEAN in the direction of democratization," said
Marzuki, a former deputy chairman of the National Human Rights
Commission.

Marty, however, challenged some of the suggestions. He also
mentioned that the 10-member group had opened up the opportunity
for non-governmental organizations to take part in the community-
building process.

"There seems to be a clash between sovereignty and
democratization. I think this issue is unnecessary ... Its effort
to move forward on human rights issues is by harmonizing (the
interests of all member states). We don't want to judge others.
But we do try to lead by example," he said.

Marty, who is also the ministry's spokesman, said that it was
not the time to talk about concepts or visions, but
implementation.

"ASEAN already has many programs. We would like to discuss how
to transform these programs into real action. Anyway, the
diversity of ASEAN is not an obstacle to community-building."

Many observers of ASEAN have called it a mere "talking shop"
because of the group's lack of concrete action. But whether it
will be consistent in its commitment to "talk less and act more"
remains to be seen.