A good time for ASEAN to strengthen its leadership

A good time for ASEAN to strengthen its leadership

Bantarto Bandoro, Jakarta

ASEAN will hold its 37th ministerial meeting here on June 28
to Aug. 2. An ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting as well as talks
with other partners of ASEAN will also take place in between
these dates.

This will be the first formal meeting of ASEAN foreign
ministers since the Bali summit in 2003, and is particularly
important in light of the task entrusted by the 9th summit to
finalize plans of action for the attainment of an ASEAN community
by 2020. Not only that, ASEAN is to show to the world its dee+per
strategic engagement in the development of a more stable and
secure region.

The Jakarta meeting takes place at a time when the region is
facing ever more severe political and strategic challenges
stemming both from inside and outside the region, and amid rumors
about the threat of terrorist attacks at foreign envoys here and
certain mining and energy companies.

The six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue taking
place in Beijing from June 23 to June 26 has added greater
importance of the meeting, the ARF in particular, especially as
regards how the ARF will react to the outcome of that meeting and
go about reducing political tension on the Korean peninsula.

The ARF meeting is also special in the light of the accession
by Pakistan to the forum and the presence of the North Korean
foreign minister.

The Jakarta meeting is considered extraordinary, not only
because it will see the attendance of senior officials from the
stake holders, but also because it has been assigned the task of
helping boost stability and security in the region.

It is thus, strategically and politically, a security meeting
in the sense that it has the task of providing wider security
assurances that the region will be robust enough to withstand
pressures on ASEAN as well as its members states.

High profile security issues, such as security in the Strait
of Malacca, terrorism, Myanmar and tension on the Korean
Peninsula, to mention a few, will definitely be on the agenda of
the meeting.

Here we see the widening of the spectrum of ASEAN's
responsibilities: to identify new security issues, overcome
existing ones and design a reliable regional strategy for
overcoming future contentious regional issues.

The region is anxiously waiting to see whether Indonesia, as
the chair of ASEAN, can gear up other ASEAN member states to
agree upon specific plans of action, particularly as regards the
idea of the ASEAN Security Community.

As we have seen, Indonesia has floated proposals for a plan of
actions for an ASEAN Security Community, such as regional
peacekeeping and an ASEAN human rights commission. Other members
are tasked with developing plans of action for an ASEAN Social
and Cultural Community, and an ASEAN Economic Community. All are
part of ASEAN's strive for full integration.

At the upcoming meeting, ASEAN will need to show firmness as
regards its strategic platform, one that provide a stronger basis
for ASEAN's future direction and activities.

The strategic objectives of ASEAN -- among other things,
dealing with security matters and disputes through a regional
framework rather than bilaterally or through international forums
-- are among the key objectives that will fulfill the vision of
ASEAN.

It is a pity, however, that other members of ASEAN have their
own sets of priorities in achieving these objectives.

If ASEAN is to be seen as being firm in its platform, one
might suggest that it needs to further map out strategic
objectives that would politically support its 2020 vision. One of
these objectives is ensuring that ASEAN is continuously and
strategically relevant to its members, particularly in the
security sense.

Through the diplomatic process, ASEAN needs to sustain the
belief among member states that an increase in benefit to one
will be a benefit to all. This is one manifestation of security.

It is normal that for ASEAN to look firm about its platform,
the members' interests and ASEAN's interests as a regional entity
need to be congruent. But in practice, this would be difficult to
achieve. In the event of a conflict, turbulence in the region or
even responses to fresh proposals, it is likely that the members
of ASEAN will continue to tend to put their own interests first.

Indonesia's proposal that regional peacekeeping be made an
ASEAN mechanism for solving conflicts was not well received by
the other members, a sign that they tend to give more priority to
their own interests.

The AMM meting here, therefore, will need to be more
assertive and creative in exploring a variety of ways in which
ASEAN might produce more practical policies, ones that are not
incongruent with the interests of members.

Other strategic objectives ASEAN might consider, in the
context of building an ASEAN Community, is ensuring the
competence of ASEAN as a kind of driver that would in the end be
looked to for the purpose of solving and containing any future
conflicts or outbreaks of political turbulence.

Indonesia needs to mobilize more of its diplomatic resources
so that there will be a deeper strategic engagement of each of
each of the member states of ASEAN as regards the realization of
its 2020 vision. Such engagement is not only desirable, but also
necessary if Indonesia is to avoid further rifts among ASEAN
member states caused by differences in policy priorities.

What Indonesia needs to do more regarding its idea of an ASEAN
Security Community is to inculcate the belief that once the
member states drive ASEAN as their vehicle for regional security,
they should trust ASEAN forever, meaning that they will be
committed to working together within a framework of
interdependence in order to bring about security and other
desirable objectives.

The writer (bandoro@csis.or.id), a researcher at the Centre
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is also a
lecturer in the International Relations Post Graduate Studies
Program, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of
Indonesia, Jakarta.