Y

oung people in ASEAN countries can connect with each other and strengthen their ties through the ASEAN Youth Organization (AYO).

AYO is a non-profit and non-governmental organization based in Jakarta that aims to increase awareness about the regional body among young people.

AYO president Senjaya Mulia said that engagement between youths is vital as the region consists of more than 50 percent of people below the age of 30 as of now.

“The organization allows young people from different ASEAN countries to engage and connect through the activities that we have,” Senjaya told The Jakarta Post recently.

He added that the organization was a medium for young people to educate themselves about the differences of each county but also the shared similarities, as ways to strengthen the ties between member states.

AYO, which was established in 2011 previously under the name ASEAN Community Organization, consists of people ranging from 15 to 40 years of age, where those over 35 are referred to as young professionals. It currently has 10 networks in all ASEAN member countries and also two other networks in Australia and Japan.

“We are currently in the process of expanding our organization beyond ASEAN countries such as to India, South Korea and the UK.

“Many ASEAN youths are currently abroad either pursuing their studies or careers so it would be great to have a single organization that could connect them despite being all over the world,” he added.

Although not attached to the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, AYO still gets support in terms of consultations, discussions for projects as well as prizes and merchandise for events from them.

“In line with the expansion of the organization, we are trying to apply [to become] an official civil society organisation under the ASEAN Secretariat,” he said.

Among the activities held by AYO were the ASEAN Youth Forum in Australia and a creative project in Laos.

Senjaya said that because members were geographically separated, monthly meetings between the organization presidents from each country were held online to discuss updates for each country and exchanges of ideas.

In terms of Indonesian youth, Senjaya said that AYO was planning to be more active in sharing about ASEAN, especially with those in rural areas.

Senjaya also said that there were those who were not aware of ASEAN and its framework but he believes that interest shown by the youth of Indonesia is increasing over the years.

“I believe that young people in Indonesia are interested in volunteering so I would love for youths from all parts of Indonesia to integrate through this organization and be educated about the regional body.

“Usually when we do open recruitments, Indonesia will have the second-highest number of applicants, but last year Indonesia came in first. This shows that they are definitely eager to learn more about ASEAN and connecting with others,” he added.

Currently, AYO is looking forward to the ASEAN Youth Conference, which will be held in November.

“250 youths from 10 ASEAN countries will attend this conference to talk about three issues related to ASEAN — the political-security community, economic community and socio-cultural community.

“Through this conference, we will try to make a declaration and submit it to the ASEAN summit and hope this paper will be discussed thoroughly by them,” he said.

The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.