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ASEAN on path to ‘self-destruction’, analysts say
Foreign policy analysts are calling on Indonesia to act more independently of a bloc they say is all but immobilized and may be headed for “self-destruction”.
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(Left-right) Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Don Pramudwinai, Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo, Laos' Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, Brunei's Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia's President Hun Sen, Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and East Timor's Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak pose for family photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Labuan Bajo on May 10, 2023.
(AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
W
ith last week’s ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, failing to produce detailed, practical plans to address the region’s most pressing issues, foreign policy analysts are calling on Indonesia to act more independently of a bloc they say is all but immobilized and may be headed for “self-destruction”.
The experts also said Jakarta, widely considered to be ASEAN’s natural leader, has been held back this year by the bloc’s divided voice on urgent matters.
Indonesia has been under pressure as this year’s chair of the bloc to deliver on troubles looming large both within the region’s borders and beyond them, including the increasingly tense rivalry between Washington and Beijing and the Myanmar crisis, which has laid bare some of the group’s most critical weaknesses: excessive bureaucracy and rigidness.
And though Jakarta has pledged to improve the group’s mechanisms this year, experts have noted that the outcomes of last week’s summit still lacked cohesion, failing to go beyond broad declarations of intent.
Last week, at least 10 outcome documents were issued on top of Indonesia’s chair statement, mostly addressing regional cooperation, including on the electric vehicle (EV) industry, regional payment connectivity and public health matters, while two other documents discussed ASEAN’s relevance going forward, the group’s 20-year vision and improving its effectiveness as an institution.
The last item acknowledged the region’s complex political landscape and the need to improve the association’s responsiveness, though without much detail on how it planned to do so. Meanwhile, the 20-year vision document was still in its early stages.
Observers say the documents reached for uncontroversial, low-hanging fruit while still largely ignoring the bloc’s biggest troubles.
