Indonesia’s fundamental goals for this 12 months’s ASEAN chairmanship are to rework the bloc into an “epicenter” of world economic growth and establish its “Vision 2045” under the general banner of “ASEAN Affairs.”
Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s explanation of the importance of the “ASEAN affair” and the goal of remodeling ASEAN into the “epicenter” of world economic growth. President Widodo emphasized that the Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that ASEAN countries must work together to beat common challenges and ensure stability and prosperity within the region. He also stressed the importance of cooperation with ASEAN’s external partners, especially within the areas of trade and investment.
But beyond the joint declarations and documents that emerged from the Labuan Bajo Summit, we must ask whether ASEAN really matters to the people it purports to represent, and if that’s the case, how.
The summit largely avoided answering difficult questions, but credit needs to be given to Indonesia for specializing in Myanmar’s civil war, regardless that progress has been slow. The conflict in Myanmar makes it difficult for ASEAN to make progress elsewhere while it’s a member state and its crisis stays unresolved.
ASEAN humanitarian aid is just beginning to be distributed in Myanmar, and earlier this week, unknown gunmen even shot on the bloc’s diplomats. Indonesia’s efforts to broker peace through “quiet diplomacy” could also be commendable, but the dearth of transparency is troubling.
People in the opposite nine member states even have a right to ask what ASEAN means to them, as research has shown that ASEAN barely impacts people’s lives and most feel little connection to the organization’s work. The lack of a way of community among the many nations of the region suggests the bounds of ASEAN’s reach in its current form.
The latest goal of turning Southeast Asia into an epicenter of economic growth seems ambitious, but Myanmar’s ongoing civil war may further dissuade people from the ASEAN project. The presence of the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste on the summit ahead of the country’s formal admission to ASEAN later this 12 months should function a reminder to governments that they have to do more for his or her people to make ASEAN matter.
Overall, the Labuan Bajo Summit appears to be nothing greater than photo ops and lofty declarations that hardly impact the lives of the people they claim to represent.
Sources: Jakarta Post Office. | ekon.go.id |
