Lets be honest about what ASEAN can and cannot do

31 January 2014
Author: Rodolfo C. Severino, ISEAS
More and more people, especially in the business sector, are asking whether the ASEAN
Community can possibly be realised by 2015, as agreed upon by ASEAN leaders in both 2007
and 2009. Mindful of the possible impact on their bottom lines, ASEAN business leaders are
even more specific: can the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) be achieved by 2015? And
will regional businesses face stiffer competition?

One of the three pillars of the ASEAN Community (along with the ASEAN Political and
Security Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community), the AEC is generally taken to
refer to the desired free flow of goods and services, or the substantial integration of the regional
economy and, therefore, increased regional competition.
ASEAN is still far from being economically integrated as a region. And there is little prospect
that it will be fully integrated, as envisioned, in the near future, much less by 2015. But whether
or not the AEC is achieved by 2015 should not be held against the literal rendering of the specific
measures to realise ASEAN economic integration, as provided for in the Strategic Schedule
appended to the AEC Blueprint. Rather, the plan to realise the AEC by 2015 should be looked at
as a re-affirmation of the ASEAN leaders aspiration for, and commitment to, efficiency in
trading, market openness and links with the international community. The year 2015 should be
considered not as a hard-and-fast target, in which ASEAN, its objectivesand the way it conducts
business are suddenly transformed. Rather, it should be regarded as a benchmark to help measure
ASEANs progress toward regional economic integration.
It should, however, still be recalled that ASEAN member countries have committed themselves
to carry out certain measures that are intended to lead to regional economic integration within a
given timeframe. While ASEAN should not be condemned for its members failure to make good
on their commitments, any failure to deliver will likely lead to a loss of credibility and could
mean that member countries fall further behind in the global competition for export markets and
foreign direct investment (FDI).

ASEAN will undoubtedly miss a number of targets defined in the AEC Blueprint, but the
ASEAN spirit is still going strong. Moreover, the AEC should not be considered in separation
from the other two components of the ASEAN Community: ASEANs supreme achievements
have been in the political and security areas. By building confidence and dispelling mutual
suspicion between members through frequent meetings and other cooperative activities, ASEAN
has made Southeast Asias impressive economic growth possible. This has, in turn, enticed major
global powers to seek, for strategic and economic reasons, relationships with the Association as a
group. Some observers may be disappointed by ASEANs failure to resolve legal sovereignty
and jurisdictional disputes involving member states, but they forget that ASEAN is not an
adjudicating body and was never meant to function as such.
The task of raising ASEANs public profile belongs to the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community,
and is essential if this and the AEC are to be effective or even realised. Partly for this reason,
some observers have deplored the low level of ASEAN awareness among the people, forgetting
the fact that building awareness of any regional association takes time, that the level of regional
awareness and identity in Southeast Asia is higher than in most other regional associations of
sovereign states, that ASEANs expansion to include todays 10 members took place only in
1999, and that many Europeans are aware of the European Union because, thanks to this
organisation, they can legally live, work and/or study just about anywhere in Europe
conditions that affect the daily lives of people in Europe, but are absent in Southeast Asia. By all
means, let us think and talk about ASEAN, but on the basis of the current reality and the present
facts. Let us acknowledge what ASEAN is and is not, what ASEAN can and cannot do.
Rodolfo C. Severino is the head of the ASEAN Studies Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies, Singapore. He is a former ASEAN secretary-general. The views expressed here are his
alone.
A version of this article was first published by The Straits Times in Singapore on 3 January
2014.