Post Breakfast
ASEAN and SAARC: Need for closer ties
MEMBERS of SAARC hold ASEAN in high esteem. We admire the cohesion and stability that this regional organisation has brought for its members in Southeast Asia over the last forty years. We compare SAARC with ASEAN and discover many areas where we lag behind. I shall first try to enumerate the areas where ASEAN has stolen a march over SAARC.
ASEAN as a regional cooperation has helped to consolidate peace and stability in Southeast Asia. It is true that there is still the lingering problem of Myanmar, but ASEAN is playing a constructive role in encouraging the government and the opposition in that country to move towards dialogue and reconciliation and to find common denominators in the roadmap towards democracy.
The second notable attainment of ASEAN has been its important role in maintaining the strategic sea-lanes that pass through Southeast Asia. We have to remember that nearly half of world trade and one-third of the world's oil supply pass through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. These two straits are classified as "straits used for international navigation" under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Indonesia, an archipelagic state, also hosts important archipelagic sea-lanes, such as Sunda and Lombok. ASEAN cooperates with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), in keeping the straits suitable for international navigation and the archipelagic sea-lanes safe, secure and clean. This is indeed an important accomplishment.
ASEAN's third major achievement has been its attempts to create a single market and production base. They have not completely succeeded as yet, but have definitely moved forward. Eventually, ASEAN's population base of 550 million and its rising economy will be a significant foil for the rising giant economies of China, India and Japan (which remains the second largest economy in the world).
Professor Tommy Koh of Singapore in this context has correctly pointed out that 'ASEAN is already the fifth-largest trading partner of the United States, after Canada, China, Mexico and Japan. By the year 2015, the ten economies of ASEAN will become a single market and production base, with the free flow of goods, services, investment, business, professional people and skilled labour, and the freer flow of capital. Not only will Southeast Asia become one integrated economy but it will also be linked, through free trade agreements and comprehensive economic partnership agreements, to the economies of China, Japan, South Korea, India Australia, New Zealand and the European Union. This is indeed a success story and assumes greater significance when one sees such efforts against the background of a resurgent ASEAN whose economies are not only integrating but also producing new patterns of intra-Asian trade and production, that are outward looking and compatible with the requirements of the global economy.
ASEAN's fourth success has been the creation of its important paradigm of multiculturalism. There are still some problems in the south of Thailand, in the Philippines, in Myanmar and in Malaysia, but generally, ASEAN member states have been able to show that all their citizens can live together better than in South Asia. As compared to ASEAN, we are surrounded by conflicts and misunderstandings involving ethnicity, tribalism, languages, cultures and religions. Islam as practiced within ASEAN has also historically emerged as more moderate and tolerant.
ASEAN is now a crucial facilitator and 'regional architect.' ASEAN took the initiative in the early 1990s to launch the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). This process brought together all the regional and extra-regional powers. Tangible progress in the ARF has not been exceptional, but right now it is the only security forum of the Asia-Pacific, just as APEC is the only economic forum which links the two shores of the Pacific.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis made it clear to all Asians that Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia are interlinked. That provided the rationale for launching the ASEM (ASEAN plus China, Japan, South Korea) process. With the rise of India and the growing connectivity between India, Australia and New Zealand, and Northeast and Southeast Asia, it became logical subsequently for ASEAN to launch the East Asian Summit (EAS) which has brought together ASEAN and the plus six-China, Japan, Korea and Australia, India and New Zealand. In addition to its economic connotation, the matrix of the EAS forum has now assumed great strategic significance because analysts believe that Asia's peace will depend greatly on the ability of China, Japan and India to live at peace with one another. ASEAN, in that regard, according to Koh has played the vital role of convener, facilitator and the architect of the evolving regional architecture.
ASEAN has moved forward over the last four decades but there are still several areas where there can be improvement. This was fortunately focused upon during its fortieth anniversary Summit meeting held at the end of last year in Singapore.
ASEAN's leaders signed the ASEAN Charter that inter alia decided to transform ASEAN from a loose association into a rules-based organization, which will follow an agreed procedure for monitoring compliance and a common system for dispute settlement. It also agreed to establish an ASEAN human rights body and promote integration in the ASEAN security community and the ASEAN socio-cultural community. The Charter also committed ASEAN to certain principles such as democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, rule of law, good governance and constitutional government. To assist this process, it was also decided to empower the ASEAN Secretary-General and the ASEAN Secretariat and create new institutions, such as the three Community Councils and the Committee of Permanent Representatives. Another interesting feature related to the streamlining of ASEAN's structure and decision-making process pertaining to economic affairs. It was significantly decided that the Economic Ministers could retain their practice of taking decisions, not necessarily by consensus, but by such methods as "ASEAN minus X" -- a procedure that could also be adopted by SAARC.
Implementation however will be the key to the realization of the vision outlined in the ASEAN Charter, particularly in interrelated and complex areas like energy security, environment, climate change and sustainable development. These are issues that represent a serious global challenge that must be addressed in a comprehensive manner through individual, regional and concerted international action. In particular, the adverse effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and changing weather patterns, would need careful handling as they will have direct impact on the security, livelihood and well-being of the peoples of the region.
I think SAARC could learn a lot from ASEAN's exercise. It would help to make SAARC more cohesive, efficient and effective. It could also make SAARC a more people-oriented organization, with stronger engagement with parliamentarians, business organizations, scholars and think tanks, and civil society. It would also transform SAARC into a more rational, coherent and dynamic regional organization.
SAARC Member States need to also carefully study and monitor how ASEAN Dialogue Partners are facilitating integration efforts and the narrowing of development gaps to deepen and broaden cooperation and to achieve a stable, prosperous and outward-looking region. The SAARC Secretariat, in this context, should also identify the steps that are being taken by ASEAN to enhance the region's competitiveness, and to reap the benefits of globalisation while minimizing the social impacts.
Relevant policy planners within South Asia should monitor the steps being taken by ASEAN towards the establishment of a comprehensive post-2012 international climate change arrangement, based on the principles of equity, flexibility, effectiveness, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. This will enable South Asia to focus on how to intensify cooperation in a wide range of activities, including combating trans boundary environment pollution, and ensuring the conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. There is also scope to learn about the safe and sustainable use of alternative energies, such as hydropower, biofuel and solar power.
I believe there is need for a more inter-active engagement between SAARC and ASEAN. Such a relationship will bring the two regions closer and definitely contribute towards required socio-economic development.
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