New era for ASEAN security culture

New era for ASEAN security culture

By Bilveer Singh

SINGAPORE (JP): The Cold War and the security structure into
which the ASEAN member countries were born greatly shaped and
conditioned their political and economic behavior, as well as
strategies.

In many ways, the Cold War was forced upon them, in turn
imposing global bipolarity, East-West, Communist-non-Communist
rivalries on the region. This political architecture shaped
international relations from 1945 to 1990.

The end of the Cold War had a liberating effect on the ASEAN
countries as far as their strategy outlook was concerned.
Although many of the political, economic and security structures
in the region are carryovers from the Cold War period, an
opportunity was provided to break from past constraints and
outlooks.

The Asia-Pacific region, including Southeast Asia abounds with
bilateral and multilateral forums aimed at solving various
problems, many of which existed prior to the end of Communism and
the dissolution of the Cold War order. But these are increasingly
felt to be insufficient in addressing the problems of the region.
In these circumstances, a new security culture and strategy seem
to be emerging in the region, which, if fully effected, will go a
long way toward enhancing peace and security.

For a long time, the bulk of key meetings has been held at the
official "track one" level. The political and security issues
were largely addressed through Association of Southeast Asian
Nations and the ASEAN-Post Ministerial Conference, as well as the
newly inaugurated ASEAN Regional Forum, which held its first
meeting in Bangkok in July 1994.

At the same time, in tandem with the growing importance of
"track one" diplomacy has been the burgeoning of non-governmental
groups, whose activities are referred to as the "track two"
process. "Track two" can be distinguished from the strictly
official and academic meetings because they are essentially a
hybrid of non-governmental and governmental activities. Their
moves are actually "mixed track" processes involving academics,
journalists and officials, both civilians and military people,
active in an unofficial and private capacity. Here, while the
government involvement in agenda setting is clearly present and
an important part of the process, the lead is usually taken by
private academic or research institutes with an arms-length
relationship with their respective governments. In Indonesia, for
instance, the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and
International Studies, has served the nation well in this regard.

What is significant about the development of the "track two"
process is that countries in the region have decided to invest in
a new strategic culture with Confidence Building Security
Measures or Confidence Building Measures becoming an important
part of security management in the region. What these two kinds
of measures involve are steps aimed at reducing or eliminating
mutual misperceptions, suspicions and fears by making military
intentions more explicit. This has been made evident by a number
of new initiatives in the ASEAN region, including intensification
of bilateral military exercises among the member states, the
first-ever trilateral defense cooperation between Singapore,
Malaysia and Indonesia with regard to the piracy problem in the
Philip Channel, the initiation of the Asia-Pacific Security
Dialog by Malaysia, involving military personnel and civilian
officials from all the participating countries, and the
involvement of military personnel in ASEAN-Senior Official
Meetings, especially since the 1992 ASEAN Summit in Singapore.

The best evidence that a new security culture is gradually
emerging in the ASEAN region can be seen in the willingness of
the various military establishments to undertake a policy of
greater transparency. The issuance of various "white papers" on
defense is the most explicit expression that these countries are
increasingly convinced of the need for transparency. To date,
three countries in ASEAN have produced some sort of "defense
white papers" with Singapore publishing its Defense of Singapore
first in 1990/1991. It released the third volume in August 1994.
Malaysia also brought out a publication called Honor and
Sacrifice; The Malaysian Armed Forces, in October 1994, outlining
the history, organization and doctrine of the Malaysian Armed
Forces. While both the Singaporean and Malaysian publications can
be regarded as "white papers", neither government has called them
so.

In view of this, it was Thailand which claimed credit for
being the first in ASEAN to produce a "white paper on defense"
with the publication of The Defense of Thailand by the Ministry
of Defense in 1994. Although the Thai version came out in
December 1993, the English version was not released until October
1994.

Whatever these publications may be called, what is clear is
that new thinking has entered into the strategic calculus and
grid of the region. This was made explicit by Dr. Lee Boon Yang,
the Singapore Defense Minister, in the preface of Defense of
Singapore, 1994-1995. He argued that in addition to highlighting
the need for a strong national defense capability, the
publication serves a wider purpose. "Despite the tensions that
have erupted after the end of the Cold War, the world is
gravitating towards a spirit of great consensus and cooperation.
There is a growing awareness among nations that forging a New
World Order calls for frank and open discussion of each country's
security concerns," he said.

In this connection, "by making transparent its own defense
posture, Singapore contributes to this atmosphere of openness,
trust and mutual respect". This, more than anything else,
reaffirmed the belief of the Singapore defense establishment, as
is the thinking of similar establishments in ASEAN, that a new
security culture is emerging in the region. The "transparency
virus" has spread through the ASEAN region, thereby strengthening
trust and confidence, marking another step in the growing
maturity of the region.

The writer is a senior lecturer in political science at the
National University of Singapore.