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99. ASEAN’s Past and the Challenges Ahead
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Chapter
- Additional Information
ASEAN’s Past and the Challenges Ahead 489 By: ROS Size: 7.5" x 10.25" J/No: 03-14474 Fonts: New Baskerville 99. ASEAN’S PAST AND THE CHALLENGES AHEAD JUSUF WANANDI Reprinted in abridged form from Jusuf Wanandi, “ASEAN’s Past and the Challenges Ahead: Aspects of Politics and Security”, in Reinventing ASEAN, edited by Simon S. C. Tay, Jesus P. Estanislao, and Hadi Soesastro (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2001), pp. 25–34, by permission of the author and the publisher. FUTURE CHALLENGES Significant internal changes within countries and external, global, and regional changes, particularly in the last decade, have created extreme and dramatic pressures for ASEAN as a whole and for each of its members. The greatest impact on ASEAN has been the pressures resulting from globalization. Its influence is allencompassing , as the financial crisis in East Asia has shown since 1997. The ASEAN members cannot adjust to these external pressures by themselves. Even developed nations cannot cope with these changes on their own. That may be one of the reasons for the European Union to deepen their co-operation. The second global event affecting ASEAN was the end of the Cold War. That has altered the security and stability of the region and has opened new horizons in strategic developments. It has also put pressures on existing mechanisms and institutions to adjust and to change, or risk the possibility of perishing. Thus, the big question is whether ASEAN can adjust and change in the medium term and cope with these changes. The task will not be easy as it seems almost impossible for ASEAN to undertake fundamental changes, given the constraints that it is now facing. Because of the financial crisis, the ASEAN members have tended to become more inward-looking. In addition, because of leadership changes in some of the older members, personal relations are no longer as critical for ASEAN co-operation as in the past. The new members have also brought difficulties of all sorts because of great differences in experience, political systems, and levels of economic development. Many of the old principles on which ASEAN has functioned for the last thirty years are no longer adequate for coping with the fundamental changes in ASEAN, and in each of its member countries. For example, the personal, non-legalistic, and informal system of co-operation between 099 AR Ch 99 22/9/03, 1:02 PM 489 490 Jusuf Wanandi By: ROS Size: 7.5" x 10.25" J/No: 03-14474 Fonts: New Baskerville states or their bureaucracies has proved inadequate , not least because of the change of leaders in some of the states. Domestic problems, such as the financial crisis, drug-trafficking, environmental hazards, migration problems, transnational crimes (for example, piracy) are also regional problems. They call for regional, and in some instances, even global co-operation and solutions. The new challenges no longer recognize the divide between domestic and external aspects. Therefore, ASEAN as a regional entity can only maintain its relevance if it can get its act together by undertaking fundamental changes. To achieve this, ASEAN members must have a common vision of the future. The first step has been taken. ASEAN heads agreed on a Vision 2020 almost three years ago in Hanoi. However, the ASEAN members also need to develop new principles of co-operation. Based on these principles, rules have to be established to guide the organization, and to make cooperation viable. These rules have to be based on an acknowledgement that the many problems ASEAN is facing cannot be solved individually. Therefore, the principle of nonintervention ” is passé. As a last resort, “intervention ” can be done in a more acceptable way. Examples where beneficial intervention might have worked in past experiences in ASEAN include the surveillance of macroeconomic indicators, the haze problem, and some policies on migration, drug-trafficking, and transnational crime. For the implementation of the rules, institutions would have to be established. ASEAN heads should meet annually and empower this meeting as the highest decision-making body. A council of ministers also has to be formed with the task of deciding on programmes and directives. The dominant role of the foreign minister in ASEAN is no longer relevant. ASEAN problems have become all encompassing and complex, and other ministers have to get directly involved in working out the answers. The office of the Secretary-General has to be strengthened and prepared for all the decisions that the council of ministers and heads...