ASEAN and its future challenges

By Jusuf Wanandi

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia (JP): On July 20 to July 23, 1997, ASEAN-Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN- ISIS) held its second ASEAN congress in conjunction with ASEAN's 30th anniversary in Kuala Lumpur. The congress was meant not only to celebrate ASEAN's 30th anniversary but also to get more people from ASEAN countries to participate and be involved in ASEAN'S activities in the future.

This congress was in response to the idea of an ASEAN assembly proposed by the then Thai foreign minister at the ASEAN Ministers Meeting of 1995 at Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei. He proposed that ASEAN should not be only a cooperation among the officialdom, but that ASEAN people of all walks of life should participate in ASEAN to strengthen the foundation of ASEAN and therefore make ASEAN a more viable regional organization for the future.

ASEAN-ISIS, being one of the nonofficial institutions consisting of think tanks of six ASEAN members plus a Cambodian institution, but excluding Brunei which is still considering establishing its own institution, took up the proposal and organized the ASEAN congress to start the process.

The congress was attended not only by academics but also by officials, the private sector, parliamentarians, NGOs in the areas of human rights, women and environment as well as other social organizations. Above all there were many young ASEAN participants.

The fact that this gathering took place is in itself encouraging. This gathering could in future be expanded into a forum of broader-based ASEAN nonofficialdom. In addition, the discussions and exchanges on ASEAN's achievements in the last 30 years and ASEAN's challenges in the next few decades have been most interesting and rewarding. The fact that this kind of discussion could be conducted in a frank and open way suggests that ASEAN has a bright future. Such discussions are important because ASEAN faces many challenges, and an inability to overcome some of the challenges could severely weaken ASEAN.

What are the most important challenges for ASEAN, and what should ASEAN do to cope with them?

To address these issues, one needs to first reflect on what ASEAN has achieved in the last 30 years on behalf of its members and for the whole of Southeast Asia. ASEAN's most important achievement is that it has created peace among its members in a region which had been called "the Balkans of Asia" and where the "next dominoes were waiting to fall". Regional peace has given its members for the first time the chance to develop economically and to build nation and state. It also has created an environment in which wars between its members are virtually impossible.

Furthermore, this achievement has enabled ASEAN to play an important and influential role in Southeast Asia, the Asia-Pacific and the world.

Having achieved this, there are also many challenges to ASEAN's cooperation, stature and influence in the future. The most important and basic challenge is whether ASEAN can adjust and change in the face of those new challenges.

The first challenge relates to the enlargement of ASEAN. The postponement of Cambodia's membership due to domestic conflict, specifically due to the use of force by one of the coalition parties to change the government, is the most vivid example.

The incident has shown that the principle of noninterference, so jealously held by ASEAN governments as a basis of ASEAN relations, will have to be reviewed. In state-to-state relations an exception was made in the case of Philippines in 1986, and recently in relation to the Cambodian conflict. In their "constructive engagement" with Myanmar, ASEAN governments have given advise to the SLORC on a private basis, with regard to the direction of Myanmar's domestic political development.

It clearly shows the validity of the idea of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, as reported in Newsweek, on the need for ASEAN to get into "constructive involvement" with each other. This was proposed by ASEAN-ISIS in a memorandum in 1993 following a working visit to Cambodia.

This is more than preventive diplomacy, because such constructive involvement must also involve technical and developmental assistance. It would also involve assistance in state and nation building. This is valid not only for Cambodia, but also for Laos and Myanmar in the future. To be able to do all this, ASEAN has to do two things. First, deepen its cooperation. It should not only be a "neighborhood club" for creating goodwill, understanding, and promoting cooperation as has been the case during the last 30 years.

With an enlargement of its membership ASEAN countries are bound to do more with each other, otherwise there would be the danger of a two-tiered ASEAN developing, one rich and one poor, which would only exacerbate tensions and might create new conflicts.

Deepening of cooperation means a "constructive involvement" of ASEAN in other members' national development. To be able to implement this new function the organization should, of course, be adjusted.

Second, ASEAN's cooperation should be based on certain principles of regionalism. Deepening of ASEAN cooperation would mean the establishment of a regional Southeast Asian community. The principles are already embodied in the ideals and philosophies of state of the ASEAN nations, such as Pancasila in Indonesia's case.

Common principles should be laid down based on these ideals and made into norms and morality of ASEAN.

Another important challenge is the increased participation of ASEAN nonofficial organizations and peoples in shaping ASEAN's future cooperation

To ignore this development and to depend only on state-to- state relations would only impoverish ASEAN, and might make the organization less relevant, even irrelevant, in the future because critical issues faced within ASEAN would be discussed or solved outside of ASEAN. At the very least, it would constrain ASEAN's ambition to play a greater future role in the wider Asia- Pacific region and the world.

Since no more wars are expected to break out among its members, ASEAN may cease to be taken seriously by its members.

Only with greater support, participation and attention by its people as well as its non-governmental organizations and leaders, can ASEAN remain relevant in the future and become stronger and more cohesive to face its future challenges in Southeast Asia, the wider Asia-Pacific region and the world.

This is the message of the second ASEAN-ISIS congress. Anybody who cares about ASEAN should take this message seriously and do something.

The writer is one of the founding directors of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta.