ASEAN Moving Fast towards Regional Integration

The idea of a Southeast Asian Community as opposed to a mere organization has adorned regional leader’s speeches for a long time, but in recent years materializing this concept has taken on a new sense of urgency. The ten ASEAN member countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar) have all shown commitment to advancing integration within the ASEAN community along the three integration axes or blueprints agreed upon at the summits in Bali (2003) and Cebu (2007), namely political and security; economic; and socio-cultural.

Furthermore, at the last ASEAN summit held in Jakarta in May 2011, ASEAN representatives advanced a statement in which they agreed to create a common foreign policy platform by 2022. This would be the fourth integration axis and represents a step forward that would strengthen the ASEAN community and would enhance its capacity to respond to global issues. If we also take into account Timor-Leste´s application for membership, which is currently under consideration, ASEAN is proving to be an all-inclusive organization that promotes economic prosperity and good governance in the region by exercising soft power and using an incentive-based system rather than imposing reforms. When the differences between its members level off, the organization stands to become a force to be reckoned with.

So what lessons could ASEAN teach the western world? That already developed economies can grow at rates of 14.5% a year, like Singapore did last year; that democracy can be promoted through democratic means rather than interventionism; and that sultanates, democracies and communist dictatorships can come together and find a common language. ASEAN stands proof of the fact that flexibility in regulations goes a long way in maintaining the interest and adhesion of each member country and that slow steps towards reform and progress adopted willingly by its members result in durable change. In light of the recent turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa and of the economic and political crises in the European Union, ASEAN represents a good alternative to authoritarian states and demanding supranational organizations.

When it was formed in 1967, ASEAN had a modest scope. It functioned as a mostly economic organization and provided an incentive system for economic and political reforms. Thus, the closer each member country came to a free, open-market economy, the greater the benefits for every one of the members. But over the past decade, ASEAN moved on from being an organization functioning on the basis of free trade agreements and zones to a more deeply integrated community. Today, ASEAN strives to be a community that will bridge over the different cultural, economic and political backgrounds of its members to create a common future of economic prosperity and good governance for all. To achieve such as feat, change is necessary. And change thus far has been slow but sustainable and irreversible, as ASEAN has adhered to its principles of non-interference and non-imposition all along. The beginning of an ASEAN identity is starting to be instilled through reformed education systems and ample awareness campaigns, sporting events and improved communication with national institutions and media.

ASEAN´s importance in the world is undeniable: the organization has a population of 600 million and a total GDP (PPP) of over US$3 trillion in 2010. Trading with ASEAN gives access to an incredibly diverse market and sectors of the economy, ranging from high-tech products and financial services in Singapore to large manufacturing bases in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia, to oil in Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia to large BPO centres in the Philippines, the options are never-ending. And with demand from the Indian, Chinese, US and Japanese markets on the rise, ASEAN economies are bound to keep growing and diversifying. In 2010, the region experienced better-than expected growth (7.6% GDP growth on average), which exceeded the Asian Development Bank’s previous estimates (6.7%). The outlook for 2011-2012 remains strong and overall growth is expected to be in excess of 6%.

A testimony to ASEAN´s growing importance in the world are the biyearly ASEAN- East Asia Summits. The next one is scheduled for mid-November in Bali and will be attended by leaders from over 20 countries- ASEAN member countries plus US, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Russia. Personalities like Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will also be in attendance and are raising South East Asia’s profile from a regional organization to an organization with a powerful voice in international politics.