ASEAN: A People-driven Community in the Making

Monday, 17 January 2011

The Jakarta Post 

Under Indonesia’s chairmanship of ASEAN, foreign ministers and senior officials convened for the first time in Lombok to discuss this year’s agenda, which include action plans for the creation of an economic community by 2015 and the upcoming East Asia Summit in December. The Jakarta Post’s Andi Haswidi and Abdul Khalik met with Indonesia’s director general for ASEAN Djauhari Oratmangun for his insight. Below are excerpts:

Question: Can you give us an overview on today’s ASEAN senior officials’ meeting (SOM)?

Answer: We are discussing the South China Sea (territorial claims) issue. We are reviewing a set of guidelines proposed by the working group, as well as the establishment of a Southeast Asian nuclear weapons-free zone.

We are also meeting our high-level legal working group to discuss the interpretations of the ASEAN charter into legal instruments. ASEAN is now a legal entity with legally binding policies, which is why the Committee of Permanent Representatives has a working group on legal affairs. There are people specifically assigned to address the outstanding issues.

Within the framework of ASEAN connectivity, we are also discussing plans for a trip by all ASEAN foreign ministers to China, from Kunming to Singapore. The road trip will run from Jan. 23 through Jan. 25.

We are also discussing the terms of reference on connectivity, which is a follow up to the master plan introduced in October last year to establish the coordinating committee for the region.

The senior officials will also finalize our meeting schedules for this year, most of which will be held in Indonesia.

On the South China Sea issue, critics say the issue is too big to be discussed at the working group level and that it would have to go through a very lengthy process before yielding any results. Your comments?

The process will indeed take some time. We already have the Declaration on Codes of Conduct for the settlement of territorial conflicts between ASEAN and China, but this was idle for so long. Now it is back on track. The guidelines have been discussed. Yes, there are still problems, but the important thing is that progress is being made.

When we met in Hanoi, SOM was asked to follow up the results from the working group, but there are still technical issues that needed be settled. SOM will take over in a sense that it will handle the political aspect of the issue. At least now we can expect that ASEAN and China are willing to sit together. As we all know, this is not an easy matter.

The retreat for foreign ministers usually doesn’t have a set agenda, as it is designed to be informal and fluid, but what are the likely topics for Sunday’s meeting?

Broadly speaking, they would be regional and international. The topics of discussion are limitless, no boundaries whatsoever. This is one of the strengths of ASEAN, there are retreats for ministers and for leaders. It is crafted in such a way that participants are comfortable to talk about anything.

Many are wondering why there isn’t a specific agenda. As a matter of fact, this is one of our strengths: The forum is flexible and fluid. The ministers can discuss international events that have an impact on the region.

At the retreat, the ASEAN secretary-general (Surin Pitsuwan) will brief ministers as part of our community-building process. He will brief them on existing problems within the association and offer solutions, for example how to achieve the 2015 targets.

Next on the table are issues pertinent to the regional architecture. So far ASEAN has been leading the way in the East Asia Summit (EAS). All members have agreed to expand the Summit to include the US and Russia. Now that they are in, we have to define new modalities and targets.

Will there be some sort of competition between EAS and other regional groupings such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership promoted by the US?

We of course opt for a regional architecture that is ASEAN driven. That also includes ASEAN+1 and ASEAN+3. Australia and New Zealand are part of the EAS and now so are the US and Russia. This is our priority.

There is an agenda to make ASEAN a people-driven community. Can you elaborate on that?

First, we want to bring ASEAN to the national level so Indonesians can directly feel the benefit of being part of the association. For example, under Indonesia’s chairmanship, we are able to bring more than 300 officials to events hosted in Indonesia. This will boost local economies. Ministers come here for a retreat, which can be a historical event for the regional government. We have also scheduled events in Manado and other cities in Indonesia.

Along with that, we also want to promote events that are people-centered as mandated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. There will be events hosted by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), events by NGOs on women’s and children’s issues and supported by friends from civil society movements.

All this will increase public awareness. The Indonesian Young Entrepreneur Association will also stage the ASEAN Youth Entrepreneurship event. This is strongly in line with our programs to improve the competitiveness of small businesses and SMEs. If the people drive the activity, it becomes more sustainable.