Quo vadis ASEAN, Indonesia?

Quo vadis ASEAN, Indonesia?

The economic crisis that hit member nations of ASEAN five years ago and the change of government in Indonesia have loosened the grouping's solidarity.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, for instance, are no longer close to one another.

Solidarity and togetherness are important to ASEAN, as the region is home to more than 500 million people.

The presence of China, South Korea, Japan and India at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ASEAN-BIS), held at the Nusa Dua tourist resort on Oct. 6 in Bali, reflects the importance of the grouping.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, however, said trade activities within ASEAN were still less than 25 percent, as most ASEAN members preferred to set up trade ties with countries outside the grouping.

Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said business interests in ASEAN still faced obstacles in making investments as the grouping had not adopted the basic principle of creating a single market, not to mention the high-cost economies of its member countries.

Indonesia, the host of the ASEAN-BIS meeting, should thus learn from the shortcomings of the ASEAN trade activities and be committed to creating good governance and clean government.

Indonesia, which has been identified as one of the world's most corrupt countries, should launch an all-out campaign against corruption; otherwise it will be remembered only as one of ASEAN's five founding countries.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta