A far-sighted vision for Asean’s future

I have recently become disillusioned and, frankly speaking, quite cynical about the future prospects of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). I am not the only one.

Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, and certainly, Thailand with a more competent and fully legitimate government in place, should take the initiative in a big, transformative way. In order to overcome the existing gloomy scenario, these nations have a serious responsibility. They could come up with something bold that could shake up the bloc.

One option would be to use the High-Level Task Force on the Asean Community’s Post-2025 Vision to amend the Asean Charter.

Alternatively, they should come up with a new cooperative enhanced framework that could lay the foundations for a core nucleus of nations to move ahead and faster, even outside of the existing, dysfunctional official framework.

The first option has been the object of an analysis for fulcrum by Ambassador Elizabeth Buensuceso who currently sits as the Philippines Eminent Person in the post-2025 vision task force.

Let us remember that the scope of this working group was this year broadened, quite correctly, up to 2045. The expansion of the goals of the group was at the center of a recent piece written by Kavi Chongkittavorn, one of the most distinguished and astute regional observers. The problem, as clearly set out by Chongkittavorn, is that Asean should do a much better job at engaging civil society to ensure the task force’s work can become not only more relevant but, most importantly, also more legitimate.

Asean certainly needs a very different approach to involving and engaging youth and civil society. The problem is that the existing formal and informal rules governing the body and, very importantly, its organizational culture, will not allow such a shift. Buensuceso is right in advocating, though in a very mild way due to her ongoing official role, for a change in the Asean Charter. This could be one of the recommendations that the post-2025 task force is going to propose as it has been working on a report on strengthening Asean’s capacity and institutional effectiveness. Such a report should be the talk of the whole region rather than be ignored and become just a reference for some boring official declaration that no one cares to read.

But it is highly improbable that truly bold recommendations are going to emerge from a group of experts and senior officials who excel in knowledge of the issues discussed but lack political weight. That is why this could be the last option for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and some of his peers, to come up with a truly transformative agenda for the next generations of Southeast Asians.

A holistic and broad revision of the Asean Charter, not a cosmetic one but a real one, should be at the center of this reform agenda.

The governance of Asean can be drastically improved. The way Asean communicates with its own citizens can be dramatically strengthened and the “We, the peoples” of the Asean Charter, should be given real substance because actually this document, even if it is always conveniently forgotten, makes democracy and human rights the cornerstones of the bloc. “Adhering to the principles of democracy, the rule of law and good governance, respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” is what the preamble of the Charter says.

Lee Yoong-yoong, the community affairs director at the Asean secretariat, in an opinion piece for a Thai newspaper, must be praised for the creative ideas put forward to revamp the bloc’s image among the youth. He “broke ranks” and came up with some practical but at the same time inspirational ideas and this is quite uncommon within Asean. We need this type of thinking and level of ingenuity among Asean policymakers and Lee’s proposals to rekindle the new generations’ interest in Asean should really be given a chance.

The truth is that any post-2025 or 2045 vision documents are going to be, as per the existing mindset and mechanisms rooted within Asean, wanting and incapable of offering what the citizens of the region really need.

These could be the legacy that the “old guard” generation of statesmen of the region, should come up with. It is really up to Jokowi, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, to ensure a courageous, far-sighted vision for the future of the region. They have, at their disposal, several paths available.

For one, they should really make the right call, even if it goes beyond the famous but ineffective Asean consensus.

After all, their legacy is not the only one at stake here. The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

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Simone Galimberti comments on social inclusion, youth development, regional integration, Sustainable Development Goals, and human rights in the context of Asia Pacific.

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The Philippine Daily Inquirer is a member of the Asia News Network, an alliance of 22 media titles in the region.