Forum eyes diverse but unified ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations still has a long way to go to become a much more united and stronger bloc given its diversity, an online forum heard.

ASEAN is not comparable with other organizations like the European Union, speakers in the forum said on Oct 9.

The workshop was staged jointly by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), in collaboration with ASEAN Youth Advocates Network Brunei, Higher Education Malaysia Association (HEYA), Malaysian Youth Diplomacy (MyDiplomacy) and Sociable & Co.

Kuhaneetha Bai, regional co-chair of MyDiplomacy, said that comparing ASEAN to the European Union was not really fair. Compared to a lot of different regional organizations, ASEAN is young.

But ASEAN, she said, despite being comparatively less powerful, is still the driver when it comes to its regional interests, albeit an "inexperienced driver". "We are still figuring out (how to) reconcile our regional (and our) national interests," Bai said.

Hafiidz Hasjim, head consultant at Sociable & Co, agreed, specifying the differences between ASEAN and the European Union.

"The EU is in a sense an organization built by common tradition, which is the Judeo-Christian tradition. They were brought up with that all along," Hasjim said.

"But you have to understand that ASEAN in general has multiple systems in place and on top of that, we have different religions … and multilayers of languages," Hasjim said.

Bai and Hasjim were among the four speakers in the workshop. The two others were Joshua Belayan, adviser to ASEAN Youth Advocates Network Brunei Darussalam, and Kevin Tan Wei Rong, assistant director of policy (Center for Policy Development) at HEYA.

The speakers mentioned ASEAN's role and the ASEAN centrality concept, emphasizing ASEAN leadership, as stated in the "ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific" embraced in 2019 as a strategic response to escalating geopolitical tensions and the growing influence of major powers in the region. They also spoke about ASEAN's young people and the future development of its people.

HEYA's Rong said ASEAN should stand firm when it comes to major power competition.

He said he believes the United States and China will one day cooperate on ASEAN grounds, given ASEAN's abundant natural resources, people, and marketplace. "US and China relations are going to proceed … time will tell," Rong said.

Belayan pointed to existing dynamism among ASEAN citizens to build stronger relations despite their differences, and also to relations between the people of ASEAN and the people of China.

From the current generation, into the future, Belayan expects "the suspicion between us" will diminish. He said he sees the young people of ASEAN driving the unity of the organization.

"While we might not see it now, we might not see it in the next five years … we can definitely look forward to more connectivity, more centered mindset, and also a much more united community within Southeast Asia," Belayan said.

Calvin Khoe, the FPCI liaison officer who moderated the forum discussion, said trust is the most valuable commodity for organizations like ASEAN and that the association has managed to show it to the world.

"We are now in a very high degree of trust, and we are continuing to nurture trust," Khoe said.

He cited the ASEAN relationships between countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia, and Indonesia and Timor-Leste, despite their conflicts in the past, as testament to the bloc's potential for trust and unity.

Indonesia is the strongest proponent of Timor-Leste gaining full membership in ASEAN, he said, despite the historical conflict and tensions that led the former Portuguese colony to become independent from Indonesia.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.