WHEN the original five established the Asean in 1968, many Asian nations had just begun the arduous transition from colonial rule to independence. With the Vietnam War (and more broadly the Cold War) ongoing, the threat of foreign interference—and with it, an atmosphere of mistrust—loomed heavily.
At the signing ceremony of the Bangkok Declaration Singaporean Foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam said, “[w]e want a stable Southeast Asia, not a balkanized Southeast Asia,” explaining that Asean’s formation was not an alignment against anything or anybody. He then called for a new way of thinking among member-states—that is, being concerned with regional, alongside national interests.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Narciso Ramos stated that by “pursuing their own limited objectives and dissipating their meager resources,” Southeast Asian countries “carry the seeds of weakness in their incapacity for growth and their self-perpetuating dependence on the advanced, industrial nations.”
With the Bangkok Declaration, Ramos was hopeful the foundation for lasting trust among Asean members was laid down, signed after difficult negotiations that “truly taxed the goodwill, the imagination, the patience and understanding of the five participating ministers.” He then called for more substantial united action, despite the wide diversity among its members to tap the huge potential of the region.
Four decades after, Asean is considered among the most successful regional groupings in the world, having enjoyed a long period of stability and maintained high levels of engagement among its members. The region is now a top-of-mind investment destination and touted to be among the future’s drivers of global economic growth, with the Asean Economic Community (AEC) looming.
This is noteworthy, especially when the region remains among the world’s most diverse—economically, politically and even culturally. And while the Asean Secretariat has no real supranational authority, regional agreements have been achieved mostly through substantial consensus-building and inter-governmental action.
Therefore, all the more laudable are the sweeping reforms undertaken by member-states because of the AEC—including zero tariffs since January 2010, improved border controls and more efficient customs administration.
However, as some speakers at a recent Angara Centre for Law and Economics forum have pointed out, the pace of reform is now slowing. Jayant Menon, an Asian Development Bank lead economist, said this was not surprising, given Asean had already tackled the easier reforms and is now facing the more challenging ones.
Former Asean Deputy Secretary- General Pushpanathan Sundram emphasized that more work needs to be done toward harmonizing product standards and technical specifications, as well as bringing down nontariff barriers.
On top of physical connectivity through infrastructure development, legal connectivity must also be assured, he emphasized. To date, some Asean members, including the Philippines, have domestic laws that are not congruent with the aims of the AEC.
Effective monitoring and enforcement mechanisms will also be needed, given member-states may comply on paper but remain protectionist in practice. For instance, Menon related how Thailand had already signed off on the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for the nursing profession. Theoretically, Filipino nurses would now be free to work in Thailand, but to date they still need to pass an exam administered in Thai.
Such issues will persist even after the December 2015 deadline. And they will be exacerbated by a persistent development divide within the region, illustrated by how Singapore’s economy is up to 60 times larger than Myanmar’s. In contrast, the ratio between the European Union’s richest and poorest members is 1:8.
Menon said these gaps must be bridged, as Sundram underscored the fact that achieving equitable development was among the four pillars of AEC integration—something uniquely Asean, making it stand out among regional groupings.
Clearly, the momentum for reform must be sustained if the goals of the AEC are to be achieved. And hopefully they will be done sooner rather than later—a pace and scale the private sector heretofore unengaged in the integration process may readily provide.
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.