Giving ASEAN a human face

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

JAKARTA (JP): After achieving success in the areas of political and economic cooperation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) closed its third decade with an "elevated" effort in functional cooperation and forming an identity that people of the region could identify with.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post yesterday, ASEAN Secretary- General Dato Ajit Singh said he would like to fill the year ahead with projects that would enhance an ASEAN consciousness.

"I would like to use the occasion to come up with projects that will strengthen the ASEAN identity and create a greater consciousness of ASEAN," he said.

Formed in Bangkok, ASEAN celebrates its 29th anniversary today. It has evolved from the simple beginnings of a grouping of five nations -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- into a most-respected regional group that now includes Brunei and Vietnam. This time next year, Cambodia and Laos are expected to join, with Myanmar to follow.

Despite its accomplishments in the security fora, along with economic integration through the ASEAN Free Trade Area, observers have criticized it as a bureaucracy which has regarded people- oriented activities as an oversight.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences during a seminar held at the ASEAN Secretariat on Wednesday questioned whether an ASEAN consciousness truly exists.

She asked whether ASEAN had become "an association of Southeast Asian governments rather than nations". Others have queried whether it was accountable to the people.

While its complexion has yet to be fully shaped, Dato Ajit maintains that the features of ASEAN's identity are already there.

"When you start looking at this, it may not be readily apparent that we have established an ASEAN identity. But it is only a question now of giving it more flesh so that people can associate themselves more readily with it," he said.

Dato Ajit thus wants the various year-long activities in celebration of ASEAN's 30th anniversary to help "add more flesh" to this identity.

ASEAN foreign ministers, during their meeting last month, agreed on a year-round celebration beginning today to commemorate the occasion.

"While perhaps at the level of leaders and officials there is a greater awareness of an ASEAN identity, this is also seeping down to the level of students, for example," he said.

Apart from the customary publications and exhibitions, both short-term and long-term projects are being considered where people will really identify with the association.

An idea the secretary-general has proposed which is gaining increasing credence is a common time zone. Others being looked at are a commemorative postage stamp and an ASEAN travel document like a passport for use in the region.

"I hope that we can also come up with an ASEAN flag soon and a new ASEAN logo which would also help," said Dato Ajit.

For the long term, the organization is looking into incorporating ASEAN subjects into the curriculum of the educational systems in schools.

As a reward for the hours of academic study devoted to ASEAN, Dato Ajit agreed to the suggestion that ASEAN day could be declared as a holiday.

"Yes, I think that's worth looking into. We have already talked about it in the ASEAN Secretariat," he said, adding that "at the moment, it is only the ASEAN Secretariat which is closed on the eighth of August."

"All this is designed to create a greater sense and awareness of ASEAN's identity," he said of the activities. He added that many of the proposals for the year's celebrations would be discussed at the ASEAN Standing Committee meeting in October.

Dato Ajit said that ASEAN awareness had also permeated through various layers of society, evident by the non-governmental participation in many fields.

"We have registered 47 ASEAN non-governmental organizations dealing with issues as wide as pediatricians, psychologists, architects, housing and women's groups," he said.

Speaking of functional cooperation, he denied that the reason for its elevation at the leaders summit in Singapore last December was because activities relating to it had lagged behind.

He said the main reason was to give it the kind of status that people could associate it with when they talked about the political and economic successes of ASEAN.

When asked, he unhesitatingly affirmed that through functional cooperation, ASEAN had succeeded in contributing to the social growth of the people.

"This sector is all unique in the sense that it involves non- governmental organizations," he said.

Functional cooperation covers the area of science and technology, drugs and narcotics control, culture and information, the environment, social development and the civil service.

Last month, ASEAN adopted a functional cooperation theme of shared prosperity through human development, technological competitiveness and social cohesiveness.