It is a question that may strike some as being
somewhat simple: Where is ASEAN? However, the simplicity belies a deeper and
more complex line of inquiry.
In
reply, someone may simply pick up a map and point to the region designated as
South-east Asia, and say, "There is where ASEAN is located".
But is
it? This leads us to ask: What is ASEAN?
Over the
last few decades, the Association of South-east Asian Nations - as a
multi-state pact of nation-states - has proven itself successful in many
respects, from the prevention of war in South-east Asia to dealing with complex
multilateral issues, ranging from cross-border pollution to the movement of
ASEAN citizens to smuggling and terrorism.
These
achievements, however, may pale in comparison to what may follow from next
year, with the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a move that will
bring about greater economic integration and cooperation.
As far as
knowledge of the AEC is concerned, it would appear that not all the countries
of ASEAN are equally prepared.
However,
since 2012, Indonesia has begun to invest in think-tanks, departments and
research centres in universities to promote the idea of ASEAN and the AEC, with
one such being the newly minted ASEAN Studies Centre at the faculty of politics
and social sciences at Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Central Java.
These
centres have been set up "to socialise", or popularise, the concept
of ASEAN and the AEC, in preparation for the changes ahead.
The ASEAN
Studies Centre at Yogyakarta has conducted public awareness campaigns among
workers and members of the public to inform them further about the importance
of ASEAN and what the AEC can do for them.
Here lies
the answer to "Where is ASEAN?"
For
surely ASEAN - as a complex abstract idea - cannot simply lie in the buildings
and institutions associated with its work, impressive though those buildings
may be architecturally.
Complex
ideas are not things that are embodied in non-sentient monuments, but rather
embedded in the collective socio-psychological architecture of societies.
ASEAN may
be symbolised by objects like buildings, flags and logos, but as an idea, it is
carried in the hearts and minds of people.
Giving
life to an idea
So what
would make ASEAN something real, and less of an abstract concept to people
across South-east Asia?
Here we
need to distinguish two processes: While ASEAN integration has been happening
on a multi-state level, driven by governments and capital, centuries before
ASEAN was even concocted, there was already the longer history of South-east
Asian integration and social movement.
The
latter is still evident today. Across many parts of South-east Asia, ordinary
people continue to live as their ancestors have always done: Field-working
researchers will tell you that in the waters of the region, nomadic itinerant
communities like the Bajao Laut sea nomads still move across the archipelago
with ease, and are spread across Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Communities,
such as the Dayaks of Borneo, straddle the political frontiers of both
Indonesia and Malaysia, as do many cross-border communities in other parts of
mainland South-east Asia.
When we
speak about the "global age" of "cosmopolitan citizens", we
tend to focus more on urbanised elite communities, but we forget that along the
border zones of the entire region, there remain communities who are hybrid,
polyglot, who have multiple identities and who are just as comfortable with the
reality of living in complex plural environments.
For
millions of South-east Asians like them, the prospect of living in an
integrated AEC is hardly new: Many of them already cross borders on a daily
basis, and sometimes without passports or identity papers.
It is
here that the connection has to be made, between the abstract idea of ASEAN
integration and the realities of people who live in a South-east Asia that is
intertwined and inter-connected.
When
bodies such as the ASEAN Studies Centre of Yogyakarta try to socialise the idea
of ASEAN among ordinary Indonesians, they are rooting that abstract
legal-political concept in the lived experience of people who will soon feel
the impact of ASEAN economic integration, but who do not have the vocabulary to
express it.
It
provides them with the language and the means to understand the impact of
multilateral arrangements upon their personal lives, and allows them to take
part in that process and claim some ownership of it.
The
reasons why this is so important at this stage are twofold:
The concept of a common home
First, in
order to give societies the means to appreciate and understand the processes of
change as a result of closer ASEAN cooperation and integration, and to buffer
against the possibility of a hyper-nationalist reaction against that process -
should the inflow of capital and other influences from neighbouring countries be
seen as "foreign" or "predatory".
Second,
to remind South-east Asians that living in an ASEAN economic community that is
more inter-connected and inter-dependent is not a new or threatening thing, but
in line with the history of movement, migration and investment in the region
for hundreds of years.
Yet, many
of us still do not know one another well enough: A glance at history textbooks
used across the region will show that young South-east Asians may know more
about the French Revolution or World War II than the history of the country
next to theirs.
With the
AEC almost upon us, the need to socialise and popularise the concept of ASEAN -
and the notion of a collective belonging to South-east Asia as the common home
to all in the region - is greater than ever before.
This has
to be a comprehensive effort which extends beyond legislatures and debating
chambers, and must reach the schools, streets and living rooms of the 600
million people who inhabit this part of the world.
And the
end goal has to be the situation where the answer to "Where is
ASEAN?" is "in me, and all of us". For no amount of concrete or
monuments can give life to ASEAN identity unless there are ASEAN-minded people
who see the region as their home in the first place.
The writer is an associate professor at the S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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