Reinventing ASEAN

6. Challenges for Society and Politics

6 CHALLENGES FOR SOCIETY AND POLITICS Carolina G. Hernandez THE DEFINING ENVIRONMENT OF THE CHALLENGES TO ASEAN The enlargement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to include all the ten Southeast Asian countries in 1999 caused a number of concerns among analysts and observers of ASEAN affairs. Among their concerns are the implications of enlargement for the solidarity, cohesion, and effectiveness of the Association, given its challenging decision-making process based on consensus, and the other elements of the code of conduct known as the “ASEAN way” that enabled its members to work together in the past. Its non-communist orientation within the environment of the Cold War was diluted with enlargement to include the communist nations that were their antagonists during the Cambodian conflict in the 1980s. Fairly economically well off, the old ASEAN members joined relatively poorer neighbours in Southeast Asia, creating a two-tier ASEAN, one rich and one poor. Thus, an ASEAN divide consisting of the six old members — Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand (ASEAN-6) — and the four new members — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV) — arose. This economic divide also exists within each of the ten countries where, with few exceptions, serious social inequalities persist. 103© 2001 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore ISEAS DOCUMENT DELIVERY SERVICE. No reproduction without permission of the publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, SINGAPORE 119614. FAX: (65)7756259; TEL: (65) 8702447; E-MAIL: publish@iseas.edu.sg 104 Carolina G. Hernandez© 2001 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore The different historical experiences, geographical and strategic realities of the members, together with contemporary challenges combine to pose difficulties in developing a common foreign and security policy that would enable them to meet present challenges in international relations and global politics. These have implications for regional co-operation, particularly in the security, political, and even social fields. For instance, while all ten countries have stable and beneficial relations with Japan, territorial disputes in the South China Sea between four of the ASEAN members with China and Taiwan have posed difficulties in these members’ bilateral relations with Beijing, particularly in the cases of the Philippines and Vietnam. Close ties with the United States among the ASEAN-6 are not shared by the new members, particularly Myanmar and Vietnam. It is not yet clear at this time how the terrorist attacks against the United States on 11 September 2001 would impact on ASEAN cohesion in regard to the response of individual states to the U.S. call for a global coalition against international terrorism. As a close U.S. ally, the Philippines gave its full commitment of support to Washington, including the use of its facilities in the military bases formerly used by U.S. forces in Clark and Subic Bay and the sending of troops as part of the coalition, if necessary. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singaproe have standing agreements that allow port calls by U.S. forces, with Singapore permitting the stationing of U.S. troops on its soil. Indonesia and the Philippines are likely to face domestic opposition to co-operation with the United States. Such opposition has already surfaced in Manila, while in Jakarta the country’s ulama have already called for an Islamic jihad should the global coalition attack the Taliban in Afghanistan. Moreover, traditional ties between the former Soviet Union and Vietnam and Laos are also not shared by the rest. Finally, Cambodian and Myanmar ties with China are unique to these two countries within ASEAN. The concept of an ASEAN divide, however, lies beyond these divergences in the levels of economic development, historical, geographic, and strategic realities, and contemporary challenges facing the ten Southeast Asian states. Faultlines also exist in other dimensions, including the variety of political regimes and ideologies and the issue of domestic political stability, as well as the levels of social development among them. Since these dimensions lie in the domestic realm, it can be argued that these are not ASEAN concerns. However, they create political and social challenges for ASEAN in the sense that they represent causes of an ASEAN divide that could pose obstacles to closer regional collaboration on political, economic, and social issues as ASEAN moves into its next thirty years of existence. Moreover, it may be argued that domestic challenges in the political and Challenges for Society and Politics 105© 2001 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore...