NAME: FAIRUZ AIMI BINTI MOHAMMAD AZMI (2013981839)

PREPARED FOR: DR. NOR HASHIMA HASHIM

JOURNAL SUMMARY
Benny, G., & Abdullah, K. (2011). Indonesian Perceptions and Attitudes toward the ASEAN
Community. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 30(1), 39-67.

Benny and Abdullah (2011) conducted a study about the depth of understanding and
perception of Indonesian public towards the proposed regional community idea. ASEAN
Community is believed to be beneficial to Indonesia especially in terms of societal and economic
aspects. However, the success of the regional community seems a doubtful matter due to its
elitist approaches that isolate the publics input in the formation process. In a relation to that, the
public still supports the idea although they are not knowledgeable enough on the proposed
formation of the ASEAN Community. Therefore, the main objectives of this study are to
discuss, evaluate, and analyze Indonesian public opinions and attitudes toward the regional
community building in ASEAN particularly on the proposed creation of ASEAN Community.
The main focuses of this study are; public awareness of understanding of and perceived
achievement of ASEAN, public knowledge and perception about the formation process of the
ASEAN Community and public attitude towards the ASEAN Community. The five major cities
to assess the public opinion are Jakarta, Makassar, Medan Pontianak and Surabaya. The
instrument employed is a strictly structured close-ended questionnaire. On top of that, quota
purposive sampling method is used based on gender and occupation, aiming 399 surveyrespondents whom must possessed tertiary education or at least diploma-level qualifications.

The result showed that in terms of awareness, understanding and perception of ASEAN,
respondents in Jakarta have the highest result because Jakarta people are exposed to ASEAN due
to the citys metropolitan and international character as the capital city, ASEAN Secretariat is
situated in Jakarta and ASEAN issues is easily accessible. On the other hand, Pontianak and
Medan also has the advantage on the peoples mobility and closeness to Malaysia and Brunei in
terms of social, economic and cultural activities may explain respondents positive responses to
ASEAN.
In terms of knowledge and perception of the formation process of the ASEAN
Community, knowledge on the ASEAN Community only a small percentage of Indonesians have
ever heard about the ASEAN Communitys idea and concept. Respondents lack of knowledge
about the ASEAN Community was due to the governments failure to convey the information to
the public. Moreover, the knowledge of respondents who claim that they have heard about the
ASEAN Community was still low and while despite the formation process of the ASEAN
Community was perceived to be elitist, Indonesian respondents show supportive of the
formation.
In terms of attitude towards the ASEAN Community, the respondents in the five cities
shared the same levels of support. Furthermore, the perceived benefits of the ASEAN
Community also shows that the level of their perceived benefits of the ASEAN Community idea
could be considered quite high with level of agreement is above 80 per cent in each city. Last but
not least, the relationships between perception and attitude towards the ASEAN Community
formation process are weak due the fact that their opinions were influenced by their perception
that the process of the building of the ASEAN Community was elite-centric. The perceived

benefits might have been higher if the respondents not perceived the formation process as elitecentric.
It is highlighted that majority of the respondents are clueless about the ASEAN
Community which resembles the failure of the government to educate and communicate with the
citizen. From the findings it is proven that the public is isolated from the formation of the
ASEAN Community but surprisingly they are supportive of the idea. This is because they have
the instincts that the regional community could be successful if it manages to benefit the country
in many aspects. On top of that, the government has to take note that the elitist approaches hinder
the public from being aware of the current agenda and thus affect their attitude towards the
ASEAN Community formation.
In a nutshell, the government has to change the approach to be more public oriented as
this can make the citizen feel appreciated and their input may drive the countrys success towards
the regional community that would bring more prosper to the country. There is always a bright
side to steer the Indonesian closer to the people of South-East Asia because when ASEAN
integrates economies, there will be more prosperity for all. If ASEAN were one economy, as the
ASEAN Economic Community intends it to be, it would be seventh largest in the world with a
combined GDP of $2.4 trillion in 2013. With over 600 million people, ASEANs potential market
is larger than the European Union (EU) and make it the worlds third largest workforce. With so
many benefits with the ASEAN Community, it is essential for the government and citizen to play
their role to make it a reality as member countries will become more closely linked in terms of
economy, political security and socio-cultural pillars that certainly could sustain the countrys
economic growth in a long term.