Thammasat launches 'Asean Sense of Citizenship' project

In a recent survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, over 50 per cent of Thais were unaware of Asean integration in 2015 and almost 60 per cent had little knowledge about the regional grouping.

This lack of Asean knowledge and a sense of Asean citizenship is found not only in Thailand, but also in some other Asean nations.

Edgar Badajos, consul-general of the Philippine Embassy, said: “The level of awareness about Asean for ordinary Asean people is very low. Government officials and academics are talking about Asean, but people in the grassroots still have low understanding.”

The concept of Asean for this project will be promoted through a series of workshops led by prominent scholars and experts under the theme “Share”, which involves social values, history of Asean, art appreciation, religious aspects and etiquette.

“In order to become one community. one destiny, we really need to look beyond our nation, our borders. We need to look at the whole region as our home. To do that, we need to promote something bigger – bigger than our nation, ourselves,” said Pipop Udorn, director of the Human Resources Institute.

The project will run from August-October with the aim to draft a concept of Asean citizenship and produce booklets and a documentary on Asean to be distributed to youth in Thailand and other countries in the region. The booklets and documentary will focus on the promotion of the Share concept, which is the core value of Asean.

Asean Sense of Citizenship workshops will be mainly for academics but will also be open to the general public for observation and informal participation.

Representatives from Asean embassies joined the press conference last week for Asean Citizenship to show their support or commitment to the project.

“We are looking forward to moving with Thailand in terms of preparing our citizens for Asean Sense of Citizenship,” said Yunardi, education attache at the Indonesian Embassy.

“We will be inviting some experts from Manila and officials who are keen on Asean from the embassy,” the Philippines’ Badajos said.

One of the representatives from Asean embassies said |the ultimate goal would be that within three years, the word “sense” would no longer be needed, leaving only “Asean Citizenship”.