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View all search resultsASEAN’s silence in a backyard crisis is dangerous inertia
Following the Myanmar crisis, which remains unresolved to date, the ongoing Thai-Cambodian border conflict presents a decisive moment for ASEAN to reclaim its standing as a force for peace and stability in Southeast Asia.
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People displaced by the ongoing conflict between Thailand and Cambodia rest on July 26, 2025, in a makeshift evacuation center at a Buddhist temple in Thailand’s border province of Si Sa Ket. (AFP/Lillian Suwanrumpha)
F
ighting has erupted once again along the Thailand-Cambodia border. As of this writing, artillery exchanges, aerial strikes and military deployments have killed and injured civilians on both sides of the boundary near the ancient temple of Ta Muen Thom.
Border crossings have closed. Ambassadors have been recalled. Bangkok blames Phnom Penh for provocations; Cambodia has appealed to the United Nations Security Council for redress.
It is the most serious interstate conflict Southeast Asia has witnessed in years. And yet ASEAN, the very institution designed to prevent exactly this kind of crisis, has remained largely silent. No emergency meetings. No neutral mediation. No observer missions. What we have instead is a vacuum of leadership and a failure to act.
In this moment of crisis, ASEAN’s silence is not wise restraint. It is problematic institutional inertia.
For decades, the regional bloc has invested in peacebuilding platforms, confidence-building mechanisms and legal instruments of cooperation. But now, as conflict returns to its own backyard, all these instruments remain unused. Diplomacy has been replaced by absence.
The gap between ASEAN’s aspirational vision, which was recently renewed for 2045, and its operational readiness has rarely been so clearly exposed. Given the increasingly fragile geopolitical environment, this gap may become more visible and damaging in the years ahead.
It is true that ASEAN has not been entirely passive. Malaysia, as the 2025 ASEAN chair, has taken some symbolic initiative. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been speaking with both Thai and Cambodian leaders and calling for restraint. His efforts were diplomatic and sincere, but they have not been followed up with institutional activation.
