Asean's birthday heralds the start of its greatest venture

Tomorrow is the 38th anniversary of the birth of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The birthday celebration this year has added significance because the bloc – now up to 10 members from its original five – is set to embark on arguably its most crucial venture since it came into existence in 1967. The Asean Economic Community will be officially inaugurated in a few months following years of debate, painstaking preparations and a rough balance of scepticism and optimism.

The AEC means many things to many people. Businessmen see either opportunities or threats. Artists see faster and more fluid exchanges of culture and infusions of creativity. Students see a broader spectrum of knowledge and chances to interact with their counterparts in neighbouring countries. Job-seekers see the possibility of prosperity that was beyond their parents’ and grandparents’ reach. Professionals see the need to adapt and compete. 

And policymakers will be seeing for the first time how their plans affect the masses, not just in their homelands but beyond their borders.

All of the above means that the AEC will be very much uncharted territory, utterly different from the original concept of Asean. The regional grouping was conceived in largely political terms. The Cold War was a factor. Mistrust among neighbours was prevalent. Diplomatic pacts were based on what policymakers feared rather than what citizens wanted.

The AEC promises to place Asean on the same level as the man in the street. What happens will be determined more by grassroots needs and less by the concerns of people in power. Of course governments and politicians will still guide the course of the AEC, but they are gradually recognising that modern-day complexities arise among “ordinary” citizens, not among people like them.

When political and ideological barriers fall, anything goes. Policymakers now realise, for example, that the much-vaunted “threat of communism” never deterred border trade, as feared. They see how the people of Myanmar suffered under the international sanctions that were intended to punish those who suppressed them. Economic corridors linking the AEC nations should be bustling soon, although their very existence would have made late-1960s policymakers cringe.

Ideas are being adapted and fused. Staid ideology should soon give way to answering genuine needs. Compromise and the acceptance of innate differences should become the hallmark of the new era. Nationalism is likely to soften through mutual understanding among both the policymakers and ordinary citizens.

The AEC is not just about passports or trade documents. When strangers interact they become acquaintances. It’s as simple as that. Less fear and more understanding should be the focus of everyone involved. 

The least that the policymakers can do is adhere to the noble path and prevent Asean from veering into the same international political gamesmanship that saw the world divided into “blocs” of clashing ideologies and ways of life.

In fact the trickiest part of the AEC evolution is how the grouping can avoid falling into that trap. If it becomes more economically influential, as expected, fresh conflict could ensue, not another Cold War but a financial war with equally evil potential. It’s part of human nature to form alliances that foster the “us versus them” mentality. And we have seen enough in history to know how many alliances were born out of noble purposes only to end up far less noble.

How to sustain the noble intent of the AEC as Asean’s influence grows is the new challenge. At least the policymakers will not have to face it alone, because the onus is now on everyone.