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