SINGAPORE: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) continues to move towards forming an Asean Community (AC) by 2015, notwithstanding the challenges such as language, diversity and geographic issues.
Language was one key problem, said Asean's director of Community Affairs Development Directorate and Community Affairs Department, Danny Chian Siong Lee.
"Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam all have different languages and because of this, we are still in the process of Asean community building," Chian told journalists from Asean countries at a workshop on "Reporting on Regional Integration and Asean", held here recently.
The two-day workshop, organised by the EU Centre in Singapore, together with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Asean Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), discussed some of the issues impacting building an Asean regional identity as well as the role of the EU in supporting efforts to set up the Asean Community.
Secondly, Chian said, looking at the diverse background of Asean member states, agreeing on any one single thing could be difficult.
"It is so diverse that the moment you cross the border, like our friend from Myanmar who is today in Thailand, the differences in culture become more pronounced. The region is so very diverse, very interesting and, at the same time, makes things very difficult," he said.
He explained that the AC is not like the EU. "Asean's nature is different, and it is working to achieve closer cooperation, but concomitantly, diversity is precisely what gives the Asean region its vibrance and vitality," he said.
"Asean's journey has not been very long, but if we look at where we have come so far, it is amazing. Today, we can have Asean meetings in each other's capital," he added, noting that Myanmar would be Asean Chair this year.
Meanwhile, director of the EU Centre in Singapore, Dr Yeo Lay Hwee, noting the vast swathes of waters that separate Asean countries, said that sometimes the geography did impact the way "we interact among ourselves".
"Connectivity is very important, and that is why the master plan is a key document for the Asean people in terms of region building, having a regional community, and establishing channels for physical connectivity," she stated.
She suggested having an iconic project, such as creating an Asean gift for all tourists.
"For example, we can have a souvenir designed with Indonesian batik and material made by Cambodia. That, to me, will be a creative way of saying that we have arrived at a certain point, we have achieved something, and in achieving the final cause, it is a continuous process.
"It is like the saying in Nordic countries that the Finns design an object because they are good designers, but it is built by the Swedish because they are good at manufacturing, transported by the Norwegians because of their shipping and then marketed by the Danes.
"So, similarly I think we can have a product that sort of symbolises the different strengths that each country has and that product can then be said to have been "Made in Asean", not in Singapore or any other country," she said.
On the focus on AEC and not AC as a whole, Chian said: "The AC is a concept based on three pillars – political and security (APSC), economic (AEC) and socio-cultural (ASCC) – and has a community deadline of 2015, but the AEC aspect is more visible because of compliance targets and so on that people tend to think sometimes that the AEC represents the whole (community)."
He said the business communities were now more engaged because they were looking at a single market, they were looking for lower tariffs and they sensed a market sense, and that part was real.
"However, the Asean socio-cultural community (ASCC) will take some time in terms of clearly defined targets. "When you start looking at the safety issues (APSC), there are a lot of programmes going on, but sometimes the difficulty is in implementing these," Chian said.
He pointed out that China had declared 2014 to be the year of cultural exchange between China and Asean and that in the next couple of years, "we should also hear about the next vision of Asean".
"This is one of the interesting parts, and being a member of Asean, we are very lucky, being where we are, being always talked about in the context of Asean's centrality and being our natural self with everyone, so we gained a lot of support," Chian said.
"You will be playing a very active role towards the people; identifying what will they be looking for. It no longer means that ministers and leaders are the only ones who count.
"The way I am looking at it now is that the community, your people, students and universities… everybody wants to have a slice of the pie, have a view on what Asean should be like, which, I think, is a good thing," he concluded.
Asean was formed on Aug 8, 1967 with five member countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei joined on Jan 7, 1984, Vietnam on July 28, 1995, Myanmar and Laos on July 23, 1997 and Cambodia on April 30, 1999. – Bernama
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/asean-continues-moving-towards-ac-despite-challenges/
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