A COMMON DESTINY: All in Asean, especially Malaysians and Indonesians,
need to identify common goals that will bring us closer together
WE are poised on the brink of a
monumental change that will shape the destinies of millions of Southeast Asians
in the generations to come.
In 2015, the Asean Community will
be upon us, bringing the countries of Southeast Asia even closer. And to
accelerate this process, our region has witnessed more intra-Asean travel than
ever, thanks to the creation of a pan-Asean communications infrastructure in
the form of cheaper airline travel, more roads, railways and bridges that
connect, rather than divide, our nations.
As we look to the near future and
anticipate the changes that will invariably arise, it is not surprising if some
Asean citizens wonder about what will happen to their respective national
identities.
All around the region, we see the
rise of hyper-nationalism and the ascendancy of some politicians who still
retain the notion that their nation is better than others, more deserving,
nobler, loftier and superior.
We also see that some of the
troubling obstacles to closer cooperation linger among us, in the form of
misapprehension and misunderstandings about "cultural theft",
"hidden agendas" and so on.
Nowhere is this more evident than
in the complex and challenging relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia, two
countries that remain close by virtue of a common history and geographical
proximity.
Malaysia and Indonesia remain the
closest and oldest civilisational neighbours to each other, yet it is sad and
ironic to note that among the younger generation of Malaysians and Indonesians,
there is less in common than ever before, and that they remain mutually
ignorant of each other's countries. This should not be the case, for if there
is any country that Malaysians should be close to and at home in, it ought to
be Indonesia -- and vice versa.
The reasons why this divide
remains are obvious as they are numerous: It includes the somewhat myopic way
in which Malaysians and Indonesians are taught about each other at school, from
an early age.
Our history books continue to
tell the stories of our nations from a narrow nationalistic perspective,
overlooking the fact that long before "Malaysia" and
"Indonesia" emerged as nations, the peoples of the archipelago were
already engaged in trade, movement and settlement for hundreds of years.
Then there is the media which
has, of late, played its role in rousing tempers and highlighting differences
rather than similarities, goading the more emotional among us to sound the
trumpet of nationalism when we ought to have been focusing on common goals and
long-term aspirations instead.
Notwithstanding these
differences, it cannot be denied that Asean's evolution will continue
regardless of whatever petty differences may emerge among its member states,
and it is with that in mind that like-minded Malaysians and Indonesians need to
identify the common points of interests and goals that will encourage the
centripetal, rather than centrifugal, forces that will bring our countries
closer together.
As we get closer to 2015, it is
timely for both Malaysia and Indonesia to look at how the younger generation of
both countries view the rest of Asean, and their closest neighbours. Though it
is unlikely that we will ever see a common history textbook for Asean, each and
every country can do its part by promoting more knowledge about other Asean
countries among the young.
During a recent trip to Myanmar,
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that
many young Myanmar students are in favour of Asean integration, and that
their general knowledge of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, etc, was high.
How sad that the same cannot be
said about the younger generation of countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, who
were the founders of Asean itself. Could it be that among the founding
countries of Asean, the concept of Asean has been taken for granted for too
long, and become staid as a result?
Linked to this need to educate
ourselves more about our closest neighbours has to be the realisation that the
economic-financial landscape of Southeast Asia will also be changing in the
years to come, faster than we realise. With easier movement of people comes
easier movement of capital as well.
Already across the Asean region,
we see Asean countries investing in manufacturing, commercial and residential
capital, etc, in other countries. Underlying this pattern of intra-Asean
investment is the realisation that each Asean country needs to develop an
external economy too, to diversify its investment net as widely as possible,
and to seek as many trading and investment partners as possible.
All of this points to the
emergence of what will be the new pan-Asean community made up of Asean citizens
who will be better connected than ever before.
In our lifetime, we will see the
rise of this pan-Asean global citizen. For the next generation of Malaysians
and Indonesians (and other Asean citizens) who are savvy, talented, socially
mobile and ambitious will seek his or her livelihood not only in his country
but also in the rest of Asean. The days when a Malaysian would study in
Malaysia or Indonesia, work in his country, settle in his country and retire in
his country will soon be over.
The next generation of Asean
entrepreneurs and skilled workers will be born in one country, but may be
educated in another, eventually work in several others, and may end up settling
in several countries in the end. Asean will become the common homeland for the
next generation of Asean citizens -- but only if we work now to open up the
opportunity structures for this to become a reality for them.
It is with this thought in mind
that I hope Malaysia, Indonesia and the
other countries of Asean will step
forward boldly and ascend above and beyond the rhetoric of narrow nationalism.
It cannot be denied that
nationalism was an important mobilising force in the 1920s and 1930s, when it
served as the springboard for eventual independence and the end of colonialism.
But it has also bequeathed us the legacy of nation-states that remain trapped
in nationalist narratives that are narrow and inward-looking.
As our region moves to the centre
of the stage of geo-politics (as recent flare-ups in the South China Sea have
amply demonstrated) a sense of homeliness, common identity and a common destiny
is needed.
Whatever problems and
misunderstandings that may have arisen among other Asean countries in the past
-- such as between Malaysia and Indonesia -- need to be transcended for the
sake of the bigger picture, and the future of Asean where each country will
need its neighbours more than ever before.
Farish A. Noor
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. Since we are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, you may contact us at: sbc.pte@gmail.com, provisionally. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment