After 44 years ASEAN moves closer to one community of nations

Yayan GH Mulyana, Jakarta | Sat, 08/13/2011 8:00 AM
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On Aug. 8, 2011, peoples and governments of ASEAN member states commemorated the 44th anniversary of the Southeast Asian regional grouping. One thing that is obvious about ASEAN today is that it has transformed.

It has developed from a five-founding-member association into a regional cooperation that includes 10 countries from the Southeast Asia region in its membership. It has also been changing from a mere association into a community.

One notable feature of the commemoration is the hoisting of ASEAN flag side by side with the national flags of ASEAN member states — conducted simultaneously by the diplomatic missions of ASEAN member states all over the world. Though symbolic in nature, this certainly signals a stronger determination of the ASEAN member states to become a community.

The development of ASEAN from one decade to another has been steady, marked by able adaptation to the continuing changes in its internal and external environments. At the time of its foundation, the Cold War and the Vietnam War were major issues.

By the end of its first decade, armed conflict between Vietnam and Cambodia began to break out. Within this context, the five founding governments recognized the importance of consolidating amity and cooperation in the spirit of the Bangkok Declaration. In its first Summit in Bali in 1976, the five member countries agreed on and signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and the Declaration of ASEAN Concord (Bali Concord I).

In its second decade (1978 – 1987), ASEAN was marked by growing confidence among its members on the significance of the association; a growing trust on the importance of collective actions in response to the economic, political and security challenges of the region. Its membership came to six countries with the joining of Brunei on Jan. 8, 1984. By the end of the decade, a wind of change was blowing in the international arena. Gorbachev introduced glasnost and perestroika. The United States–Soviet Union disarmament diplomacy was at its height. This added optimism among ASEAN member countries about the coming of a better and more conducive international environment for ASEAN.

The third ASEAN decade (1988 – 1997) was a pivotal period in the history of the grouping. Outside the region, the end of the Cold War was taking shape. Germany was united in 1990 and the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991. In Southeast Asia itself, new developments were emerging. Vietnam withdrew its troops from Cambodia by the end of 1989. Conflict in Cambodia ended in 1991, followed by the deployment of UNTAC.
ASEAN found that the new developments had given the association an important opportunity to build a stronger foundation for durable peace in the region, especially through security cooperation. But ASEAN realized that it could not do it alone. ASEAN believed that participation of pivotal players outside the region in the discussion of security matters in the region and its surroundings was vital. In view of this, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was established in 1994.

Not only that, the ASEAN membership was also enlarged by the joining of Vietnam on July 28, 1995, and two years later Lao PDR and Myanmar on July 23, 1997. Then, in 1997, the first meeting of ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) and first ASEAN-China Summit were convened. But 1997 was also a difficult year for ASEAN member countries. A financial crisis was sweeping over Asia and Southeast Asia, and badly affected regional economies.

At the beginning of its fourth decade (1998 – 2007), ASEAN member countries were still struggling to recover. In Indonesia itself, it was also a time when reformasi era began to unfold. On April 30, 1999 Cambodia joined ASEAN, making ASEAN a 10-member association.

On a global level, the fourth decade also features mounting attempts for deeper and more institutionalized regionalism around the world. In July 2002, the African Union was created during the last conference of the OAU in Durban. In May 2004, the EU began to enlarge its membership, and in October 2004 a new constitution was signed, which was followed by the signing of the Lisbon Treaty three years later.

The spirit of deeper regionalism and efforts to move ASEAN beyond a mere association were also reverberating in the Southeast Asia region in the first half of 2000s. During the Bali Summit in October 2003, ASEAN leaders adopted the Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (Bali Concord II), which established an ASEAN Community consisting of three pillars; namely political and security cooperation, economic cooperation, and socio-cultural cooperation. Another landmark achievement by ASEAN in its fourth decade was the signing of the ASEAN Charter that serves as a legal basis of the association. Thus, ASEAN has become legally and functionally stronger.

Now ASEAN is entering the fifth decade of its history (2008 – 2017). It is a crucial episode of ASEAN in the 21st century. It is a period when the idea of an ASEAN Community is being made a reality and when the drive to make ASEAN a regional organization with global significance is being felt. Under the theme “ASEAN Community in a Global Community of Nations”, and under Indonesia’s leadership, ASEAN has been working to ensure significant progress in achieving the ASEAN Community by 2015 in all its three pillars, and to chart a post-2015 vision where it has an enhanced role in a global community of nations.

ASEAN, at 44 years old, is both in excellent shape and is going in the right direction. It has a legal identity, a clear vision for its future, an increasing amount of structure for cooperation, more partners, and anticipates more members. But, of course, it is not without challenges.

Internally, greater understanding, knowledge and participation of peoples in the ASEAN processes will be needed. An ASEAN Community will have real meaning only when ASEAN peoples have a sense of ownership and a sense of being connected and accepted within ASEAN’s family and community. It is time for the ASEAN peoples to become more of a driving force in the dynamism of the association. President Yudhoyono stressed many times on the importance of a people-centered ASEAN in his recent ASEAN anniversary lecture.

One critical purpose of such a sense of we-ness would be achieving constant consciousness among the peoples of ASEAN member countries so that whenever disputes occur, using peaceful means to settle these disputes will be the only, primary and natural choice. A facet of nationalism that favors violent means would be overcome by a constructive macro-nationalism. Dialogue, amity, togetherness and cooperation would prevail. And while the ASEAN Community remains an imagined entity, its tangible fruits of cooperation would pervade all segments of ASEAN peoples in all corners of its member states.

Externally, as ASEAN is steadily solidifying, the global community of nations would expect a greater role and visibility of the association in the resolution of global issues. As the world remains replete with problems that affect the future of humankind—from nuclear weapons to many non-traditional security threats—the need for collective leadership of ASEAN on the international stage will rise.

Those are not an easy task. But I am optimistic that as in the past, ASEAN would be able to contribute significantly to the resolution of those challenges, and that Indonesia will play its critical role in that
endeavor.

The writer is an assistant to Special Staff to the President for International Relations. The opinions expressed are his own.