ASEAN and its future challenges

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.