The task of pursuing the ASEAN ideal of ONE VISION, ONE IDENTITY and ONE COMMUNITY will eventually pass on and fall upon the shoulders of the next generation. We should always keep in mind that we are crafting an ASEAN Charter not so much for our generation as for the next
THE formulation of a Charter which will establish a legal personality and juridical identity for ASEAN is gathering momentum. Even if it has become an important global forum for economic, political, cultural and security cooperation, ASEAN, heretofore, has been just an association of 10 member-states in Southeast Asia under the historic, but non-binding Bangkok Declaration of 08 August 1967. One of the most important mandates from its Leaders is to insure that people are placed in the center of ASEAN's interests. Accordingly, the members of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) – tasked by ASEAN's Leaders at their 11th Summit in Kuala Lumpur last 11-14 December 2005 to formulate broad, bold, and visionary guidelines for the final drafting of the Charter – have agreed to undertake comprehensive consultations with civil society in their respective countries to determine and integrate therein the significant concerns of ordinary people.
At the first EPG meeting in Kuala Lumpur, I emphasized the importance of an ASEAN Charter that would be relevant to young people's concerns, thus: "The task of pursuing the ASEAN ideal of ONE VISION, ONE IDENTITY and ONE COMMUNITY will eventually pass on and fall upon the shoulders of the next generation. Therefore, we should always keep in mind that we are crafting an ASEAN Charter not so much for our generation as for the next."
Last 23 March 2006 at the DFA building, in my capacity as Philippine representative to the EPG, I presided over the first Consultation Meeting with Civil Society hosted by Acting Foreign Secretary Franklin Ebdalin with the leaders or representatives of 31 Philippine civil society organizations. The meeting aimed to gather civil society's inputs in the identification of certain "principles, values, non-negotiable concepts, institutions, and procedures" that would be important to the basics of an ASEAN Charter. The recommendations of the EPG will be submitted to the ASEAN Leaders by mid-December 2006 during the 12th ASEAN Leaders' Summit hosted and chaired by the Philippines. Thereafter, a high level panel of experts would work out the final draft of the ASEAN Charter which then would be submitted to the member-states for final ratification before being put into full force and effect. The second EPG meeting was held in Bangkok last 14-15 February, while the third and fourth are scheduled in Bali (17-19 April) and Singapore (27-29 June), respectively. The step-by-step process of planning, consultation, drafting, finalization and ratification could expectedly result in an ASEAN Charter about 15 months from now.
Cooperation: Three working groups
The participants in the civil society consultation included human rights and peace advocates, workers' representatives, businesspeople, educators, veterans, Mindanaoans, sociologists, family planners, and even former Cabinet secretaries, namely: Jose Concepcion (DTI), Carmencita Reodica (DoH), Mina Gabor (DoT), Jose Almonte (National Security), and Benjamin de Leon (Social Development). DFA ASec for ASEAN Affairs Ambassador Luis Cruz organized the participants into three Working Groups corresponding to the three pillars of ASEAN Cooperation, namely: Political-Security, Economic, and Socio-Cultural.
The designated Working Group Chairs were Dr. Aileen Baviera, Dean, UP Asian Center (Political-Security Cooperation); Jose Concepcion, President, ASEAN Business Advisory Council (Economic Cooperation); and Dr. Patricia Licuanan, President, Women and Gender Institute and Miriam College (Socio-Cultural Cooperation).
Recognizing that, indeed, people must be regarded as stakeholders or owners of the envisioned ASEAN community, people at the grassroots should be made aware of the substantive thrusts that ASEAN needs to take – first, towards community integration, and eventually, political union. Notions of nationalism and sovereignty would have to accommodate and give space to the necessity for a regional, collective conceptual approach, at the expense of some reduction of sovereignty aspects, to insure the overall well-being of the peoples of Southeast Asia.
Specifically, the working groups explored the directions that ASEAN should take in strengthening regional cooperation in terms of reforms and initiatives, particularly in decision-making, enforcement of agreements, dispute settlement, and implementing processes. Highlights of civil society's recommendations that evolved from the Consultation Meeting are as follows:
(1) There was consensus that it is about time for ASEAN to adopt a Charter and move towards establishing a rules-based organization. The new ASEAN must continue to build a Southeast Asian community – and when time and circumstances are right, to forge a political union, based on the principles of the rule of law, good governance, sustainable development, the preservation of human dignity and freedom, and the promotion of social justice;
(2) The establishment of a rules-based organization would necessitate the adoption of processes and mechanisms that facilitate decision-making and enforcement of rules or compliance. The major proposals included: (a) Reviewing the consensus approach to decision-making within ASEAN, as well as the option to adopt a system of voting or of registering objections similar to that in the UN system; (b) Setting up a Dispute Settlement Commission within ASEAN; (c) Transforming the role of the Secretary General to become a political officer and the representative of ASEAN in other international bodies; (d) Establishing committees that would handle budget and administration, as well as auditing of ASEAN's activities; (e) Promoting transparency and accountability; and, (f) Institutionalizing the participation of non-state players in the decision-making process, including making the ASEAN Peoples' Assembly (APA) more inclusive; and enhancing the role of the academe in generating greater understanding among the peoples of Southeast Asia by the establishment of an ASEAN University and the study of the different Southeast Asian languages.
(3) The end-goal of economic cooperation should encompass economic justice, sustainable development, equity, inclusion and empowerment. This would require mechanisms for safeguarding social reforms, regulating the flows of human resources in critical industries and services, addressing cross-border socio-economic issues, and promoting financial discipline, to include the creation of a fund to aid ASEAN countries in balance-of-payments distress; and,
(4) There is a need to define security in its broadest sense, ensuring that human security is accorded utmost importance. The ASEAN Charter should uphold the basic principles of human dignity, freedom and social equity by emplacing mechanisms for addressing human rights issues (such as a proposed Human Rights Center), integrating population and development concerns, protecting the rights of migrant labor and the marginalized sectors, enhancing inter-faith dialogue, protecting the environment, and promoting sustainable development.
The Consultation Meeting can be considered an effective mechanism for reaching out to the various stakeholders in Philippine society in particular, and ASEAN stakeholders in general. A follow-up meeting with civil society representatives will be conducted in mid-July to report on the progress of the work of the EPG and to obtain further inputs and recommendations.
The idea of an ASEAN political union
Conceptualized at the 23 March meeting was the idea to build a Southeast Asian caring and sharing community and, when the time and circumstances are right, to forge ahead to a political union. Over the past 39 years, ASEAN has both reinforced its internal solidarity and expanded its external influence. Because ASEAN has been non-threatening, it has become a convenient medium for the great powers in which to dialogue informally on political-security issues. The regional stability that the ASEAN forums have made possible (such as the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct in the Islands of the South China Sea), also has enabled ASEAN to develop its own strength gradually, through consultation (musjawarah) and consensus (mufakat).
ASEAN, however, may not always enjoy this leisure to develop gradually. Well before 2040 – or just 30 years from now – according to many experts, China is expected to become the world's largest economy. It will then be followed, in size and influence, by the US, India, the European Union, and Japan, in that order. By that time, too, the great powers may no longer need ASEAN to moderate their rivalries and conflicts. But, for as long as major global players perceive ASEAN as earnest in its efforts to forge a political union, they will refrain from pursuing any designs prejudicial to the Southeast Asian region. If global economic and political power is now seen as resting on three "legs" – the Americas, the EU, and Asia – China, India, and Japan will tend to power the Asian leg. The only way that ASEAN can remain an influential global player is for it to become a caring and sharing community anchored on a strongly-bonded economic and political union.
Despite the international stature ASEAN has already attained, the reality is that nation-states seldom recognize any motives higher than their national interests. Regardless of how the future develops, therefore, the regional dynamics in Southeast Asia will always be characterized by both competition and cooperation – and, when either alternative fails, by conflict. And conflict within the region is what ASEAN should endeavor to prevent above everything else – because at the very least, internal conflict will be a magnet for outside intervention. The forging of a Southeast Asian political union will obviously take a long time. The building of a caring and sharing community will really never end, because the ideal human community will always be ahead of us – like a horizon that recedes as the traveler approaches.
The bottomline
What really matters is ASEAN's collective political will and resolve to persevere in pursuit of its shared vision to prevent the region from descending into any conflict that may arise from highly intense economic competition, international terrorism, or surprise incursions by an outside power.
The bottomline is to begin to work with what we already have, somehow finding ways to transform perceived weaknesses into opportunities. To its credit, the Philippines has already pioneered in the promulgation of basic structural reforms in key sectors such as: Philippine Agenda 21 (September 1992) to implement the UN's Earth Agenda 21 on sustainable development; Anti-Child Labor Law (RA 7658 – November 1993); National Water Crisis Act (RA 8041 – June 1995); Magna Carta for Migrant Workers (RA 8042 – June 1995); Indigenous People's Rights Act (RA 8371 – October 1997); Instituting Traditional Healthcare (RA 8423 – December 1997); Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Law (RA 8425 – December 1997); Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (RA 8435 – December 1997).
Our Leaders should never rest on piecemeal laurels because ASEAN cannot afford to fall into the trap of complacency even as the European Union and the Americas continue to consolidate and strengthen their peoples, their institutions, their industries, their economies, and their synergies – to further widen their lead over the rest of the global family.
Is ASEAN likely to face up to these future challenges? As 2006 Chair and Host, the burden falls heavily on the Philippines to make happen a responsive, people-empowered, and progressive ASEAN Charter.
Sources and Relevant Links:
Manila Bulletin Civil society and ASEAN 2 April 2006
