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hina, Japan, South Korea and other ASEAN dialogue partners are ready to splash out millions of dollars on the grouping’s members in an effort to build the most vibrant regional grouping, and in the process gain influence in the region.

However, despite Indonesia being Southeast Asia’s largest economy, its people proved not to have the ability to make proper project proposals to apply for cash offered by ASEAN partner nations.

Meanwhile, the so-called CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) were able to create excellent proposals, and banked a lot of money from the allocated funds.

“They are very aggressive in submitting project proposals to get funds. Meanwhile, we are really lagging behind in this regard,” Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry’s director for ASEAN economic cooperation Rahmat Pramono said.

He said the Foreign Ministry had held several workshop to train officials and businesspeople in Indonesia to make proposals.

Japan has provided US$400 million from 2006 to 2011 under the Japan-ASEAN Integration Funds, which can be disbursed for disaster management, counterterrorism, health and maritime projects by the ASEAN member countries.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has committed $10 billion under the so-called ASEAN-China Infrastructure Funds signed in January 2010.

“Until now, I have not heard any Indonesian proposals to accept the funds. Meanwhile, some proposals from other members have been accepted, even though the projects have not been launched yet,” Rahmat said.

South Korea also offered money to ASEAN countries under the ASEAN-Korea Special Funds agreement. Since 1990, the country has disbursed $42 million to help the grouping’s members deal with various development projects.

“ASEAN+1 [along with China, Japan and South Korea] has developed an active and effective framework while we are seeing a slower pace with ASEAN+3. The dialogue partners probably see that ASEAN+1 offers them more spotlight than if they come out as the three countries in ASEAN+3,” Rahmat said.

Aside from the three countries, ASEAN also has another eight dialogue partners, which also have pooled huge sums of money to be used by member states on development projects.

The money, in the form of grants from Australia, India, the EU, New Zealand, Canada, the US, Russia and Pakistan — has been used for years by civil society groups, small and medium enterprises and individuals to develop their respective regions and sectors.

The US, for example, has pledged $150 million for ASEAN members over five years, beginning in 2011 under the Advance program.

Earlier, noted economist H.S. Dillon said the government had to convince the public that there were long-term benefits from the country’s participation in ASEAN.

“The people must be convinced about our role in ASEAN, otherwise it won’t be successful. We have to ensure that our participation in ASEAN brings benefits to the people,” he said.

Dillon argued that by focusing on people or making ASEAN a people-driven community, the grouping could help people prosper.