D

espite having been around for about half a century, many ASEAN citizens still do not see the benefits of the regional bloc.

“I am proud to be an ASEAN citizen but I do not know why,” 35-year-old freelance translator Yohanes Tito told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He said he was proud to be a part of ASEAN because he could be “united with world communities that are practically serumpun [sharing a common ancestry]”.

However, he could not recall any ASEAN program that directly impacted his life.

“As a layman, the most concrete ASEAN benefit that I can enjoy is only [sporting event] the Southeast Asian Games,” he added. “Also, as an ASEAN citizen, it is easier for us to travel to other ASEAN member countries. That’s all.”

Being an ASEAN citizen also does not make access to jobs easier, said Kartika Bhagchandani, a 28-year-old data analyst now working in Singapore.

“I do not think there is a privilege for ASEAN citizens. There is only priority for Singaporean citizens or permanent residents,” she told the Post, adding that foreign workers were considered foreigners despite coming from an ASEAN country.

She said, however, that in Singapore’s airport, there was a line dedicated to passengers from ASEAN countries — a facility that Indonesia has yet to provide.

Low awareness of ASEAN programs is a concern of Benny YP Siahaan, the Foreign Ministry’s director for ASEAN eternal cooperation.

He invited a group of journalists and bloggers, including the Post, to seek opinions on Monday evening on how to get ASEAN closer to common people.

“There is a concern that people are no longer aware of ASEAN. Some of them might be luckier to learn a bit about it in school, but some others do not,” he said.

Benny further described that ASEAN had gained a well-established image outside its region and at the policymaker level.

However, at the people’s level particularly in Indonesia, ASEAN was not that acknowledged yet, he emphasized.

“It has been 51 years since ASEAN was first established. If we do not start taking actions on awareness, ASEAN will no longer be known by the people.”

He then said the ministry was teaming up with the Education and Culture Ministry to put more ASEAN content in school curricula, which so far only touches on ASEAN lightly in social studies.

The journalists suggested that ASEAN get closer to the people by using social media and making travel-related content, such as itineraries and traveling tips.

“Traveling is the easiest, friendliest content that everyone can accept,” said Renne Kawilarang, managing editor of viva.co.id news portal.

Recently, traveling has seen significant rising interest from many people in the world, including Southeast Asia, he said.

In Indonesia, for instance, there was a rising trend among youths to travel around Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, within a single period of time, considering such places cost less but provide beautiful attractions, they said.

“We need to think of how to provide information about ASEAN and its programs as well. Maybe it can be through graphics or pictures,” said Josie Susilo from Kompas daily newspaper.

Victor Maulana from sindonews.com further said ASEAN could also hold a journalists’ workshop or gathering that could give journalists from across the region a chance to network. Therefore, more journalists would understand ASEAN’s programs under its recent chairmanship, he added.

Anggara Suwahju, a blogger from the ASEAN blogger community, then raised an issue about enabling privileges to enroll in any university and to work easily in Southeast Asian countries.

Responding to Anggara’s concern, Benny said it was still difficult to enable such equal rights due to education and particularly a language gap among Southeast Asian countries.