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outheast Asia has remained a relatively peaceful and stable region in uncertain times thanks to the ASEAN factor and its championing of dialogue, equality and rule of law, Indonesia’s top diplomat said on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi told the annual Oslo Forum that ASEAN had provided an environment conducive for robust economic growth and prosperity amid simmering conflict and prolonged crises elsewhere.

The world-leading forum for peacemaking and conflict resolution, gathers more than 100 world leaders and peace mediators in Oslo this week, including former United States state secretary John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Taking a firm stand for the otherwise under-appreciated regional bloc, Retno picked at the tendency of ASEAN pundits to focus more on its problems while failing to recognize its achievements and importance.

Part of ASEAN’s success stems from what Retno argues as a prevailing culture of dialogue and equality. Unlike the Western approach, ASEAN is continuously promoting dialogue over naming and shaming its member states.

“But we also provide a platform for the major powers to have dialogue through ASEAN-led mechanisms,” Retno said in her speech, which was streamed on Facebook Live on Tuesday.

ASEAN hosts a number of regional dialogue forums such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN+1 post-ministerial conferences, where the 10-nation bloc engages with its dialogue partners, such as the US, China, Australia, India and Japan.

Retno also underscored ASEAN’s implementation of “the power of equality” despite the inherent diversity of its member states in terms of economy, political system and size of geography.

Southeast Asia is the only region in the world where the civilizations of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese Confucianism and Judaeo-Christianity meet and interact.

Retno also attributed the bloc’s success to respect for the rule of law, which continues to baffle skeptics for making some arguably strange bedfellows out of the coexisting democratic, authoritarian, monarchies and communist regimes.

“This is what we actually call the ASEAN Way; we try to prevent finger-pointing exercises, we try to prevent provocative actions and we try to prevent interference,” she said.

“Sometimes people say the ASEAN Way is not progressive enough, but we said with [such diverse member states], why should we become progressive if at the end we will be broken up and [...] create instability in the region?”

Retno has proven herself exemplary of the “ASEAN Way,” having been personally invested in constructive engagements with Myanmar on the issue of Rakhine state and the plight of the Rohingya, where other international actors voice alarm and condemnation.

Even so, she is also well aware of the challenges that ASEAN faces, and that its longevity would hinge on its ability to address issues such as transnational organized crime and threats like violent extremism.

“The Marawi incident [in the Philippines] was a wake-up call for ASEAN,” she said, stressing ASEAN’s unity and centrality.

ASEAN’s insistence on dialogue comes almost in stark contrast to the “European Way” that European Union high representative Federica Mogherini championed in her own speech at the Oslo Forum, arguing that “military is sometimes needed but not sufficient.”