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Indonesia must boldly step forward at G20: The nuclear clock is ticking louder
When the dialogue partners do not know how to call for an audit of how their money is spent, then the ASEAN Secretariat is immediately a free rider.
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Casting doubt: A woman casts her ballot for a referendum at a polling station in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Sept. 27. Many nations, including Indonesia, have described the referendums in Kremlin-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine as violating international laws. (AFP/Stringer)
The time for ASEAN to come together as a cohesive entity may yet arrive one day. That one day will not be in 2025 though. Twenty-25 is when ASEAN is supposed to function as an ASEAN Community. But the international system has broken down since Feb. 24.
The pan-Slavic wars between Ukraine and Russia staring at ASEAN are dire. They have the specter of World War III with Russia’s latest annexation of 20 percent of another strategic country in the heart of Europe.
By this token, instead of three pillars of community to walk slowly to one ASEAN, where the member-states continue to improve on their political and security cooperation, economic integration and social-cultural cooperation the ASEAN way, current major world crises have turned ASEAN Community into a stalled project where the “centrality” of ASEAN is gone, even when COVID-19 was the problem for the last two-and-a-half years. The website of ASEAN Secretariat found no entries on “Ukraine”.
Jakarta knows it. In fact, the truth is, every single capital knows it. That is why Myanmar’s coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, despite attending the special summit convened by all ASEAN leaders in Jakarta, in April 2021, two months after the coup had taken place, has shown no signs of being willing to reverse course or step down. Myanmar has instead become a “Murder Republic”.
Why is ASEAN given more prominence than it deserves?
A key reason is the secretary-general of ASEAN, invariably, backed by three deputy secretary-generals who are on fixed three-year contracts, is not expected to do much. The ASEAN Secretariat can just continue in a piecemeal manner, while member states seek to project some semblance of unity, when the fact is such convergence of national interest is only fleeting and ethereal.
Discerning directors in ASEAN Secretariat often do not want to play this game. Honorable resignation comes with the territory of any good directors. Those who stay on are choking the ASEAN Secretariat of fresh blood.
