Driving ASEAN forward

Driving ASEAN forward

Since its birth in 1967, ASEAN has been changing in
spectacular and subtle ways in order to remain relevant.

While the Southeast Asian grouping has been inter-governmental
to the core, the idea of a 10-nation community floated at the
Bali Summit two years ago suggests a supranational European
Union-style entity.

Another issue that could do with a lot more openness and
action is the festering problem of Myanmar. The long-accepted
principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of its
members, which has served ASEAN so well in the past, is now being
sorely tested.

This is one of those rare occasions when patience is wearing
thin even among the staunchest adherents of the conciliatory
"ASEAN Way" of quiet diplomacy and constructive engagement.

There are great expectations that ASEAN can do for East Asia
what it has done for Southeast Asia. However, ASEAN needs to get
its own act together if it wants to remain in the driver's seat
for the creation of a wider East Asian kinship.
-- New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur