ASEAN based on national resilience

ASEAN based on national resilience

The following interview with Dr. Juwono Sudarsono, vice
governor of the National Resilience Institute, was taken from
the January 1997 edition of Telaah Strategic (Strategic
Analysis), the institute's bimonthly publication.

Question: What is the significance of the ASEAN-10?

Answer: A united Southeast Asia encompassing all 10 states in
Southeast Asia has been aspired to by many Southeast Asians since
the late 1940s, with Filipinos and Indonesians being the most
prominent. They visualized a common identity based on the
region's strategic location, geographical makeup between two
oceans and two continents as well as between the great traditions
and civilizations of China and India. By August 1997, Myanmar,
Cambodia and Laos are expected to join as full members. This
would fulfill the aspirations and the long-term goal declared at
the inception of ASEAN in the Bangkok Declaration of Aug. 8,
1967, that the region of Southeast Asia become a community of
peace and prosperity.

Q: Isn't the idea of a united Southeast Asia somewhat far-
fetched and idealistic?

A: For centuries, the cultures and civilizations of Southeast
Asia have been remarkable for their ability to absorb, adapt and
improve upon a wide variety of cultural, political and economic
influences from outside the region. Dynasties, kingdoms and --
more recently, republics -- sought to seek comparative as well as
competitive advantages from the vagaries of strategic power
plays, economic pressures as well as the political hegemony of
India, China and the European powers. Following the end of the
Pacific War in 1945, most of continental Southeast Asia came
under the spell of communism while most of maritime Southeast
Asia opted for tutelage under capitalism.

Indonesia initiated the notion of an independent, self-
confident outlook when it insisted during ASEAN's inception in
1967 that the Bangkok Declaration affirmed that foreign military
bases were "temporary in nature," although in deference to the
other four founding states it conceded that the presence of such
military bases was at the discretion of each resident state. At
the height of the Cold War, the intellectual foundations of the
outlook originated in a series of in-house discussions at the
National Defense Institute (now renamed the National Resilience
Institute) from 1969 to 1972.

The conceptual framework advocated is now popularly known as
regional resilience. In essence, regional resilience is a logical
extension of Indonesia's doctrine of national resilience, which
drew inspiration from our revolutionary experience between 1945
and 1950. There is a strong emphasis on self-confidence and self-
reliance rather than relying on foreign military assurance. I
might add that regional resilience preceded the notions of
comprehensive security and cooperative security, concepts
developed in the United Nations after 1992. No, the ASEAN-10 is
not far-fetched, nor idealistic. I am convinced that the ASEAN-10
is an idea whose time has come, is politically sound and
economically viable.

Q: What are the benchmarks of regional resilience and the
ASEAN-10?

A: The Bangkok Declaration, for one, asserts confidence in the
ability of Southeast Asians to determine the terms and conditions
of political, economic and strategic autonomy of the region.
Indonesia pioneered the notion of not relying on assurances from
outside military powers. In 1971, this idea was advanced in the
declaration that Southeast Asia be a zone of peace, freedom and
neutrality. Later, the Declaration of ASEAN Concord and the
Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in 1976 propelled this idea even
further.

More recently, the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and ASEAN
Regional forum were added to the list. All of these benchmarks
were underpinned by the notion of regional resilience. And so it
went. Brunei joined ASEAN in 1984, Vietnam in 1995 and Myanmar,
Cambodia and Laos will this year. All of these countries, I am
sure, basically agree with the notions of national and regional
resilience, uniting all of Southeast Asia within the ASEAN
framework.

Q: What about the relationship between the ASEAN-10 and the
international community, particularly in communications
technology, production, investments and marketing?

A: In a globalized world, regional resilience combines the
notion of comparative advantage based on geographical proximity
and the idea of competitive advantage, which draws on the
qualitative aspects of performance based on world-wide standards
of enterprise. This is particularly important in the 1990s,
because ASEAN increasingly faces competition from other emerging
markets across the world like eastern Europe, North Africa, Latin
America and greater China. Regional resilience through the ASEAN-
10 welcomes the challenges of cross-border and cross-functional
transactions, which are the daily fare of executives in
government and private business.

But regional resilience also entails down to earth notions of
economic sustenance, social justice and the fundamentals of
governance to provide outreach to the desperate, the deprived and
the disadvantaged.

That is why Indonesia has compared notes with Myanmar and
Vietnam in establishing international oil contracts, provided the
Philippines with emergency fuel during energy shortages and
assisted in building up Cambodia's army and police to provide
public safety. On a broader level, Indonesia also supports the
growth triangle of Singapore-Johore-Riau, the Indonesia-Malaysia-
Thailand Growth Triangle and the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-
Philippines growth area. Regional resilience rests on the
durability of national resilience. It is the daily referendum on
the idea of being Southeast Asian.