When it was established in 1967, most ASEAN countries were still recovering from the dark days of colonization by the Western world and were reconstructing their economies brick by brick.

Now, 50 years later, 10 members of ASEAN have been able to maintain their close ties with each other, even as the similar but more experienced regional group in Europe has been riven by Brexit, the British exit.

In his opening speech for ASEAN’s 50th anniversary on Friday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that what allowed ASEAN to survive through its first half century was its members’ abilities to walk together hand-in-hand under the spirit of brotherhood.

Known for its “ASEAN Way” of building consensus in decision-making and maintaining a non-interference policy, the regional group has maintained stability in a diverse region consisting of member countries that have widely varying governmental systems.

In front of hundreds of representatives of ASEAN members and numerous partner countries in the ASEAN headquarters, Jokowi emphasized that the country members shared a strong passion to establish a peaceful system and maintain stability in the region.

“While our friends from other regions fight against each other to solve a problem, ASEAN solves its problems through dialogue and negotiation. And while others are pessimistic about economic integration, ASEAN continues to build its economic integration, not only among ourselves but also with other countries,” he told the receptive audience.

Jokowi attended the event with the secretary-general of ASEAN, Le Luong Minh, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.

The event also put a spotlight on the diversity within the ASEAN community by highlighting cultural performances by artists from Indonesia and other countries, while in the afternoon a regional and international culinary festival was launched in another part of the building.

With a combined gross domestic product (GDP) in the first half of 2016 of US$2.55 trillion, ASEAN can boast of being the world’s sixth largest economy and predictions have been made that it could move into fourth place by 2030 behind the European Union, the United States and China.

Jokowi said that as a possible counterbalance to the bloc’s economic growth, ASEAN was facing an external challenge in the form of rivalries from large countries that were trying to fight for influence in Southeast Asia. The President emphasized that only by protecting the unity they have established among them would the member countries be able to decide their own futures without being dictated to by larger powers.

However, Jokowi warned the audience that the threat of terrorism remained a serious “wake-up call” for every country in the region, hinting that the gathering of foreign Islamic State (IS) fighters in the southern Philippine city of Marawi should be met with stronger cooperation between ASEAN members.

“I am certain that with stronger cooperation, we would be able to fight against terrorism in this region,” he elaborated.

Meanwhile, Minh said that a challenge that will be faced by ASEAN in the future was to stay the course it had set for itself and stand united to “weather the current tide of complicated developments from regional and global situations.”

He cited as examples various situations, including persistent development gaps, the spread of extremist and terrorist ideologies, protectionism and tensions resulting from maritime sovereignty disputes.

“I believe that ASEAN is capable of playing bigger roles by responding as one [entity] to regional and global challenges,” he continued.

Popular

To my horror, it’s just a movie!

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Pentagon chief congratulates Prabowo on being elected President