The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed to
strengthen cooperation between its member states rather than to integrate them,
a noted economist of the University of Indonesia (UI) has said.
“This regional grouping is not a move toward economic
integration, particularly total integration,” Faisal Basri told a seminar on
strengthening Indonesia’s role in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in Jakarta
on Tuesday.
Faisal argued that the formation of the AEC, which is
set to begin in 2015, was aimed at making ASEAN appear more attractive to
investors outside the region.
“Thus, from the beginning, ASEAN was not formed for
the sake of integration as seen with the European Union [EU],” he said.
According to Faisal, the term “connectivity”, used to
address the relationships between ASEAN member states, is a “soft term” that
shows ASEAN is not prepared for integration because of the geographical
conditions of its members.
While the majority of EU member states are located on
the European continent, the geographical arrangement of ASEAN member countries
is archipelagic, he stated.
Formed in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1967, ASEAN currently
comprises Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
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