ASEAN: The quest for an identity

ASEAN: The quest for an identity

By Isagani Yambot in Manila, Shefali Rekhi in Singapore, Yasmin Lee Arpon in Bangkok, Nick Leong in Kuala Lumpur, Novan Imam Santosa in Jakarta and Diem Quynh Pham in Hanoi.

Setting aside sheafs of paper, K. Kesavapany picks up the results of The Straits Times -- Asia News Network Asiapoll and begins to ponder.

The director of the Institute of Southeast Asian studies in Singapore has long followed ASEAN's quest for a regional identity and integration and has spearheaded efforts in recent weeks to contribute to the debate.

Minutes pass by in silence.

Then he looks up, throws back his head and says: ""Thirty- eight years have gone by but we haven't crossed the bridge.''

Circling some of the findings, he remarks: ""I am pleasantly surprised that 60 percent of those polled feel they identify with others in ASEAN.

""But my own feeling is that this consciousness is there among the ruling elite in capital cities. Much more needs to be done to integrate the places elsewhere."

The sentiment echoes through in the poll.

Philippine based researcher Minerva Generalao said policy makers should question the notion that people have of ASEAN identity, to be able to build on it.

"ASEAN is so diverse. There are so many barriers - historical, linguistic, cultural, religious - to a common identity. So is the notion of identity same and common for the respondents?"

In Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Gam Huong, a 23-year old program administrator with a non-profit organization told ANN's member-partner Vietnam News: ""I know very little about ASEAN countries like Philippines and Brunei," though Vietnam became a member a decade ago.

ASEAN's quest for a regional identity and integration gained momentum in the mid-90s when Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar joined the grouping, but the reality is that it is still far from being closely knit.

The framing of the ASEAN Vision 2020 document at the December 1997 summit in Kuala Lumpur sought to give it another push.

The Singapore-conceived Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) was taken up under which a series of projects were started to bring countries in the region closer together.

Alongside knowledge about ASEAN was included in the primary school curriculum.

All this led to greater consciousness about the common identity and there is now far greater mobility within the region. Cross-border tie-ups are increasing by the day.

There is also now greater realization that fortunes of the countries in this region are interlinked.

The spread of SARS virus, terrorism, the wrath of the tsunami and now fears about damage that an outbreak of bird flu can cause have driven home that point.

Consequently governments are now signing pacts on defense as well.

But ASEAN remains far from integrated, with wide disparities still in the level of economic development.

Besides, close to four decades after the grouping was established the network still has to frame its own charter.

ASEAN managed its affairs with a minimum of formality, with few legally binding arrangements and with relatively weak regional institutions, said Mr Rodolfo Severino, ASEAN's former secretary-general, in an ISEAS produced booklet on Framing the ASEAN Charter.

There is hence still no criteria for membership other than location in Southeast Asia and adherence to some general principles of international behavior.

Most ASEAN agreements, even those that are technically binding have been dependent on the voluntary compliance of member states and the ASEAN Secretariat.

"The closest thing that the association has to an executive, remains weak in terms of formal powers," says Severino.

But in recent years countries in the region have doubled their efforts to integrate the region economically -- at the Bali summit in 2003, ASEAN leaders agreed to establish the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2020.

This is envisaged to be a single market and production base where there would be free flow of goods, services, investments etc.

The importance of achieving this is lost on few -- it would enable businesses to opt for economies of scale making the region a magnet for foreign direct investments.

With globalization the mantra now, it would be the way to thrive.

"ASEAN came together as a group to have political leverage over outsiders," said Asda Jayanam, the former Thai Ambassador to the United Nations.

"But there is no threat from outsiders, except perhaps globalization -- we need to work together to have a common system," he told The Nation, Thailand's daily newspaper and an ANN member.

Achieving this, however, will mean making many policy changes and a change in mindset, though for the moment that seems difficult.

Indonesia's Makmur Keliat, the executive director of the Center for East Asian Cooperation at the University of Indonesia points out that despite all the talk about integration, Jakarta imposes a "departure tax" of Rp 1 million (US$100) on Indonesian citizens.

"Actually, other ASEAN governments have pleaded us to revoke this strange policy because it limits the movement of Indonesians to visit other ASEAN countries," he told The Jakarta Post, ANN's Indonesia partner.

Another key issue to be tackled will be the fear about losing national identities, but Universiti Putra Malaysia political science lecturer Prof Jayum Javan believes it would work to nation's advantage.

"In fact, it will further enhance it," he told Malaysia's leading daily, The Star.

"In Europe, Germans, Austrians, Italians, and Greeks for example, are more eager to distinguish themselves from one another after the union," he said.

It will be especially good for tourism as well, he added.

The debate now is about the pace at which the integration should progress and on this, though the people believe it should hasten, the intellectuals still worry.

Malaysian political scientist Nidzam Sulaiman believes the process should be gradual to minimize shocks.

"ASEAN countries should be allowed to move at the pace they want. That is what regional co-operation is all about," he said.

Others argue, given the realities of globalization, maybe a two track approach should be followed - those more developed can hasten their integration, and the rest can follow, at their own pace.

The potential for cooperation remains immense.

"If at all progress has been made, it is only in the area of trade and even then not all countries have kept to their commitments," said Mr Kesavapany.

In other areas, such as services, particularly financial services, there is little progress to record and in the area of transport, the proposal for an open skies agreement in ASEAN has long been pending.

"ASEAN countries also have to agree on a set of core values so that everyone knows what the grouping stands for. I am afraid that a lot more work needs to be done before one can, with all honesty, say that ASEAN integration is well and truly in place," he told The Straits Times, calling for more debate.