A Southeast Asian community

A Southeast Asian community

As host of the annual gathering of foreign ministers of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this week, Jakarta
has had the honor of receiving a great many foreign dignitaries.
The series of meetings saw not only the presence of the 10 ASEAN
foreign ministers, but also at least 14 ministers from outside
the region, including those from major powers like the United
States, China, India, Japan, the European Union and Russia. Such
is the importance of ASEAN in world diplomacy today that it is
now able to bring together this many foreign ministers to one of
the ASEAN capitals every year to discuss a wide gamut of issues
ranging from economic to political and security cooperation.

The gathering in Jakarta this week has added urgency as this
is the first time that the 10 ASEAN foreign ministers have met to
follow up on last October's declaration by their leaders, during
their summit in Bali, to establish an ASEAN Community by 2020.
And 15 years is not a lot of time, especially in view of the
European Union's long and difficult journey toward political and
economic harmonization.

This is indeed an ambitious undertaking for ASEAN. While the
region has seen relative peace for much of the last 10 years, a
prerequisite for integration, there are still wide disparities,
especially in terms of economic progress and political freedom,
among ASEAN member countries. Overcoming these disparities will
be ASEAN's greatest challenge in the coming decades, but it is
also imperative that the region succeeds in this increasingly
competitive and globalized world.

Each ASEAN country in itself has a small voice on the world
stage. This goes even for its largest member Indonesia, the
world's fourth most populated nation and the country with the
world's largest Muslim population. Together, however, the 10
ASEAN members represent a force to reckon with, a voice that the
rest of the world cannot afford to ignore.

The presence of more than 14 non-ASEAN foreign ministers in
Jakarta this week amounts to an international recognition of
ASEAN's importance. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting on
Friday, which winds up this week's gathering, is seen as an
exclusive but a useful club for discussing security not just in
Southeast Asia, but also the rest of Asia. No wonder that many
other countries are continuing to knock on ASEAN's doors for
admission to the ARF.

ASEAN's continued role in the future, however, depends on how
far and how fast the 10 member countries can promote greater
integration. A conscious effort at promoting integration,
political and economic as well as social and cultural, could help
reduce existing economic and political disparities. That is the
principal thinking behind the ASEAN Community concept, which the
ASEAN leaders in October further subdivided into the
establishment of an ASEAN Security Community, an ASEAN Economic
Community and an ASEAN Social and Cultural Community.

Indonesia rightfully used its position as ASEAN chairman for
the past year to push some rather bold proposals for implementing
the idea of the ASEAN Security Community by coming up with a
draft plan of action. Granted, some of these proposals were shot
down during the discussion by members who felt uncomfortable with
ASEAN moving too far and too fast with political integration. But
the present, watered-down, plan of action document, which was
endorsed by ASEAN foreign ministers on Wednesday, still
represents a major leap forward for the region.

Just as a final note of caution to the ASEAN leaders and
ministers involved in promoting greater regional integration, at
the end of the day it is the people of Southeast Asia who will be
doing the integrating. In other words, success (or failure) as
regards the establishment of the ASEAN Community by 2020 to a
large extent depends on the participation of the people.

So far, they seem to have been totally excluded from the
process. The discourse in the halls and corridors of the Jakarta
Convention Center, where the ASEAN meetings have been taking
place, seem to be totally disconnected from the lives of people
in Jakarta, let alone in Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and
other ASEAN capitals. Such disconnection was also widely felt
when the ASEAN leaders signed the agreement in Bali last year.

When do the ASEAN governments plan to bring their people into
this process of regional integration? Obviously, the answer
should be, the sooner, the better. Bringing them on board early
would also ensure greater ownership by them, and hence the
ultimate success of the project.