An Introduction to ASEAN

This unofficial introduction to ASEAN is prepared by CIL staff. For official information on ASEAN, please visit the ASEAN Secretariat Website and its About ASEAN section.

ASEANs Founding
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded on 8 August 1967 when the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines completed negotiations on the 1967 ASEAN Declaration (also known as the Bangkok Declaration). Against a backdrop of the Cold War and the tumultuous transition to independence occurring in many Southeast Asian states, ASEANs objective at its founding was to accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of South-East Asian Nations. Such a commitment was of great importance for building trust in a region divided by stark differences of ethnicity and a scant history of inter-state cooperation during the period of colonization. As Southeast Asian countries struggled with newfound independence in the 1960s, differing visions of fiery nationalism and what shape the region should take in the post-colonial era gave rise to territorial disputes and confrontations amongst members even as neighbouring countries in Indochina were in the throes of war and internal conflict. In fact relations between two founding members, Malaysia and the Philippines, were not normalised until 1969. The 1967 Bangkok Declaration was an initiative to ensure peace and stability in the region, through a commitment to work together and deal peacefully with mutual differences. Member states hoped to forge an independent bloc in Southeast Asia, which would not be dominated or exploited by external powers. Today, the notions of sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and noninterference among member states remain central tenets of ASEAN unity and cooperation. ASEANs primary mode of activity is inter-governmental meetings among the representatives of the ten member states. ASEAN institutions do not include any sort of assembly representing the people of ASEAN, although various ASEAN institutions maintain contact with civil society organizations in the region and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. The latter is not officially a part of ASEAN as to date, only eight member countries political systems incorporate representative legislative bodies.

Expansion of membership
While ASEAN was established with five members, its founders had a vision of a larger regional body, including all states in the Southeast Asian region. This however, had to await the countrys independence (as in the case of Brunei), the resolution of the Vietnam War and civil conflicts in Indochina. Countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar also waited to be satisfied of ASEANs neutrality. The current ten-nation membership was completed with the admission of Brunei Darussalam in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999. View a ASEAN member states here.

ASEANs Objectives
At the time of ASEANs founding, the primary objective of furthering regional cooperation was couched in general terms in the 1967 Bangkok Declaration. Some of the earliest ASEAN initiatives were those that pertained to norms of peace and security in the region, including the 1971 Declaration on the Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) and the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. This was later supplemented by the 1995 Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ) and the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. In the early years, ASEAN also initiated cooperation on economic and cultural projects, which were seen as means to enhance regional stability. Some early initiatives were in the areas of preferential trading agreements, industrial complementation, agriculture, tourism, cultural and media cooperation, and the promotion of Southeast Asian studies. The objectives of ASEAN were broadened with the notion of an ASEAN Community encompassing security, economic, social and cultural cooperation. The idea of the ASEAN Community was seeded in the 1976 Declaration of ASEAN Concord (also known as the Bali Concord), and further developed into the three specific areas of security, economic and sociocultural cooperation in the 1997 ASEAN Vision 2020, and the 2003 Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (Bali Concord II). ASEAN continues to work towards the attainment of these goals, guided by a series of specific targets and work plans for each of the three communities. ASEANs official work plans include the Hanoi Plan of Action 1997-2003 (HPA), Vientiane Action Programme 2004-2010 (VAP), and now the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community (20092015) comprising the ASEAN Political-Security Blueprint, ASEAN Economic Blueprint, ASEAN Socio-Cultural Blueprint and the Initiative for ASEAN Integration Workplan II. Recent priorities for the ASEAN Community in 2009-2010 include enhancing connectivity, financial stability, sustained development, responses to climate change and the implementation of the ASEAN Charter.

ASEAN Political-Security Community

The objectives of the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) are to ensure that the peoples and Member States of ASEAN live in peace with one another and with the world at large in a just, democratic and harmonious environment. Activities in this community include cooperation on building norms of peace and security, strong relationships with external partners, the promotion of political development in areas such as good governance and human rights, as well as specific sectoral meetings on defence, law, and transnational crime. Traditionally the APSC also includes the ASEAN Foreign Ministers, who serve core coordinating and decisionmaking functions in ASEAN. As the first ministerial body created at ASEANs founding in 1967, the Foreign Ministers meeting was termed the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM). In 2009 with the implementation of the ASEAN Charter, the Foreign Ministers functions were separated into their roles as the ASEAN Foreign Ministers (which retains the acronym AMM) and the ASEAN Coordinating Council.

ASEAN Economic Community

The objective of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is to transform ASEAN into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, and freer flow of capital. The AEC envisages a single market and production base making ASEAN more dynamic and competitive with new mechanisms and measures to strengthen the implementation of its existing economic initiatives; accelerating regional integration in the priority sectors; facilitating movement of business persons, skilled labour and talents; and strengthening the institutional mechanisms of ASEAN. Initiatives under the AEC include the ASEAN Free Trade Area, ASEAN Investment Area, and sectoral cooperation in the specific areas of energy, finance, agriculture and forestry, minerals, science and technology, telecommunications and IT, tourism, and transport. Enabling economic development throughout ASEAN is also an important objective of the AEC. With the enlarged membership of ASEAN came a new set of challenges. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam were the last four members to join and were acknowledged to have a significant development gap with the first six members. Narrowing the Development Gap thus became an additional priority of ASEAN. Projects under the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) are designed to enable new ASEAN members to accelerate the pace of economic growth, and to enable them to participate on a similar level with the first six members.

ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community

The ASEAN Social-Cultural Community (ASCC) contributes to realising an ASEAN Community that is people-centred and socially responsible with a view to achieving enduring solidarity and unity among the nations and peoples of ASEAN by forging a common identity and building a caring and sharing society which is inclusive and harmonious where the well-being, livelihood, and welfare of the peoples are enhanced. Areas of cooperation in this community include culture, arts and information, disaster management, education, environment, health, labour, rural development and poverty eradication, social welfare and development, youth and civil service cooperation.

External Relations
Another essential aspect of ASEANs activities today is the development of close partnerships with other countries. The simultaneous engagement of many important countries with an interest in South East Asia forms part of ASEANs strategy to remain in the drivers seat in regional developments ensuring that the region is stable and prosperous, and free from domination by any single external power. The main instruments of ASEANs relations with its partners are the promotion of norms of peace and conciliation, and the creation of a network of economic agreements in the region. Today, ASEAN has established official dialogue relations with ten external partners including Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Russia, and the USA. ASEAN also has relations with the United Nations and a sectoral partnership with Pakistan. At the regional level, ASEAN is the driving force for forums including the ASEAN

Regional Forum, ASEAN+3 (with China, Japan and Korea) and the East Asia Summit (with Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand).

The ASEAN Charter

The 2007 ASEAN Charter is a landmark constitutional document for ASEAN, reaffirming ASEANs status as an intergovernmental organization, establishing its legal personality, codifying ASEANs purposes and principles, and setting up an institutional framework to allow ASEAN to better coordinate its many areas of cooperation and operate effectively in a rulesbased system. ASEAN is distinct from other regional and international organizations in that this basic document was created not upon its founding, but instead created only after forty years of confidence-building and cooperation, and signed at the associations 40th anniversary. The ASEAN institutional system set out in the Charter incorporates key existing institutions, while creating new structures which are being phased in to ASEANs operations. The key features are as follows: The ASEAN Summit. The ASEAN Summit is the supreme policy making body of ASEAN. It has been convened since 1976 and comprises the heads of government of the ten member states. As the highest level of authority in ASEAN, the Summit sets the direction for ASEAN policies and objectives. Signing or endorsement of agreements, and the issuance of declarations by the ASEAN Leaders at the Summit signify the highest level of commitment of ASEAN member states. The Summit authorizes the establishment or dissolution of ASEAN sectoral bodies for specific areas of cooperation. It also functions as final decision-making body in matters referred to it by ASEAN ministerial bodies or the Secretary-General, and plays the role of an appellate body for disputes and cases of non-compliance that cannot be resolved by ASEANs dispute settlement mechanisms. Under the Charter, the Summit meets twice a year. ASEAN Ministerial Councils. The Charter established four important new Ministerial bodies to support the Summit. They are the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) which takes over the ASEAN Ministerial Meetings functions of support for the ASEAN Summits meetings and to oversee overall implementation and coordination in the ASEAN Community, the ASEAN Political-Security Community Council, ASEAN Economic Community Council, and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council to ensure coordination of the activities under each of the three areas. Together, the Councils supervise the sectoral activities of ASEAN over 700 meetings each year in the various sectoral areas of the ASEAN Community. ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC). Administrative support for ASEANs official activities is provided by the ASEAN Secretariat, which was established in 1976. ASEC is headed by the ASEAN Secretary-General, staffed by nationals from ASEAN member states and located in Jakarta. ASEC is also responsible for monitoring implementation of ASEAN commitments and maintaining the organisations official records. Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR). For the day-to-day working level coordination of ASEAN activities, the Charter established a Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) in Jakarta, comprising ambassadorial-level representatives from the

member states. The CPR will take over the work of the ASEAN Standing Committee, which was established in 1967 to perform the coordinating role for ASEAN. Dispute Settlement. The Charter calls for the resolution of disputes between ASEAN members in a peaceful and timely manner through dialogue, consultation and negotiation, in which the Chairman of ASEAN or the Secretary-General may be called upon to offer their good offices, conciliation or mediation. The Charter further mandates dispute settlement mechanisms for all fields of ASEAN cooperation. Whereas the economic community is covered by the 2004 ASEAN Protocol on Enhanced Dispute Settlement Mechanism, the other two communities will be addressed through new dispute settlement institutions currently under negotiation. Unresolved disputes and non-compliance with the findings of dispute settlement mechanisms are to be referred to the ASEAN Summit. For further information please see CILs resource page on dispute settlement in ASEAN. Decision Making. The primary mode of decision-making in ASEAN is consultation and consensus, a tradition that ensures that ASEAN initiatives have the full support of its members and that no member state will feel discriminated against. However, the Charter enshrines the principle of ASEAN-X in implementation. This means that if all member states are in agreement, a formula for flexible participation may be used so that the members who are ready may go ahead while members who need more time for implementation may apply a flexible timeline. In cases where consensus cannot be reached, the Charter provides for the ASEAN Summit to decide on an alternative method of decision-making. Human Rights. Article 14 of the ASEAN Charter called for the establishment of an ASEAN Human Rights Body. Accordingly, ASEAN officials completed negotiations on the Terms of reference for the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), which was established at the 15th ASEAN Summit in October 2009. The AICHR can be seen as a culmination of discussions on the establishment of a human rights mechanism in ASEAN that began at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in 1993 and continued with the work of the ASEAN Working Group for a Human Rights Mechanism. For further information please see CILs resource page on human rights in ASEAN.

The Future of ASEAN

ASEAN is widely recognized in the international community as an exemplar of enlightened and successful regionalism. But what precisely constitutes the nature and measure of its achievements? In the first place, it is remarkable enough that ASEAN has survived for all of three decades, considering that at the time of its birth, not a few political observers had predicted that, like its predecessors - the SEATO, the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) and the Maphilindo - it would soon wither in the blast of the complex and unpredictable regional situation. As Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas recalls, "When ASEAN was born, there were a good number of skeptics who would not believe that, given the wide divergences of view among the ASEAN countries, the differences in the political and economic systems of its founding members, it would ever succeed in this endeavor at regional cooperation. Well, ASEAN proved all its critics wrong and it is now a vibrant reality, an Association recognized not only in its own region but also in the world at large as one of the most successful regional cooperative schemes". The recollection of the Foreign Minister of Singapore, Professor S. Jayakumar is that when ASEAN was founded, the situation in Southeast Asia was so grim the mass media kept comparing it with the European region that would eventually hand down the horrible legacy of "ethnic cleansing"-the Balkans. "The media described us as dominoes about to fall at any time," he says. "Indeed, there was no optimism on the future of the countries of Southeast Asia. But now, 30 years later, the situation is very different. The countries in Southeast Asia now constitute one of the most peaceful, stable and prosperous regions in the world. I don't think this would have been possible if it were not for ASEAN". Former ASEAN Secretary General, Narciso G. Reyes, once suggested that in order to measure ASEAN's worth, one should ask what could have happened to Southeast Asia without ASEAN. "Southeast Asia minus ASEAN," he said, "equals greater political instability, more widespread economic deterioration and, almost surely, the ascendancy of expansionist forces that thrive on the weakness, isolation and disunity of others." He said this in 1981 when ASEAN was proving to be a bulwark of political cohesion and solidarity in the face of the situation in Indochina and he was then anticipating only that the ASEAN countries would show excellent economic performance during the rest of the decade. Optimistic as he was, it was beyond his expectations that the ASEAN countries would prove to be among the world's most dynamic economies going into the 21st century. And even today, ASEAN's political achievement tends to be cited more spiritedly than its considerable role in the economic development of its members. Says Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo L. Siazon Jr : "ASEAN has transformed itself from a small subregional organization into a major influence in world affairs. During the last 30 years, ASEAN has been able to maintain peace and stability among its Member Countries despite the many territorial

problems and other issues among them. ASEAN today is the only subregional organization in Asia that provides a political forum where Asian countries and the world Powers can discuss and consider problems related to security, political issues and military concerns". The relative peace, security and stability that ASEAN has helped achieve and maintain in Southeast Asia as well as in the entire Asia-Pacific has been good for business. It created a favorable environment where rapid and sustained economic growth became possible. Economic development, in turn, brought about social progress and human development. Just how was ASEAN able to achieve its phenomenal success? Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi explains it convincingly. "ASEAN has been successful," he says, "because there is a very strong commitment among ASEAN members to cooperation. Cooperation for the benefit of all and cooperation for stability and peace of the region. This is a very important hallmark of ASEAN (Second), there is also a very strong commitment to pragmatism. ASEAN has been pragmatic in ways that develop cooperation among the members in undertaking various projects. And ideology has never been a problem to ASEAN. Ideological differences have never interfered in efforts to cooperate positively for the common good of all and for regional prosperity. And, third, I think the ASEAN Leaders and Ministers are never tired of seeking consensus. We work hard, we work with full commitment to seek consensus on any particular issue, on any particular program we wish to develop and when we do this, we are very very aware of one another's sensitivity." ASEAN has acknowledged that periods of rapid social and economic progress are often accompanied by fundamental shifts in power relations among States. If not managed well, such realignments can lead to conflict. At the same time, increased economic globalization, accompanied by structural adjustments of national economies, can create challenges to social order. With its rapid economic development, ASEAN also faces some issues related to resource conservation including environmental protection. Greater mobility of people, goods and capital also demands sophisticated border security measures and closer collaboration among States. All these concerns ASEAN must continue to address. It helps that the nations of the Asia-Pacific delight in their prosperity and realize that tensions and armed conflict make bad economics. It helps that ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the recently established Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) processes are effectively promoting a more constructive and cooperative approach to international relations in this part of the world. The establishment of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) also represents a breakthrough in the history of the region and, as stated in the Chairman's Statement of the ARF's inaugural meeting in 1994, "signified the opening of a new chapter of peace, stability and cooperation for Southeast Asia". The expansion of ASEAN "shall pave the way for a new synergy, maximizing the cooperation potential for growth of the entire region", Vietnam's Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam envisions. He expresses caution, however, that "In the face of a greater ASEAN which comprises countries at different levels of economic and technological development and with different cultures and historical backgrounds, there emerges a need on how to keep those differences from

slowing down the ASEAN growth pace and concurrently from creating difficulties for those countries of lower levels of development." The virtual realization of the vision of the Founding Fathers of ASEAN to have an association of all Southeast Asian countries is by no means the end of ASEAN history. It is a call for a renewed commitment towards broader regional solidarity among the peoples of Southeast Asia. As Foreign Minister Prachuab Chaiyasan of Thailand stated: "As we move towards the year 2020, ASEAN will have derived its strength not only from unity among governments but unity among its diverse peoples. The ASEAN experience and the ASEAN process must reach out to all spectrum of our societies. Through ASEAN, this region will become a grassroot- supported and close-knit community bound together not only by common interests, but by shared values, identity and aspirations among our peoples." ASEAN faces the future with confidence. Its strong foundation and remarkable achievements will serve ASEAN well as it pursues higher goals at the dawn of the new millennium. The ASEAN Heads of Government have reaffirmed succinctly that Cooperative peace and shared prosperity shall be the fundamental goals of ASEAN. Towards these goals, ASEAN shall remain a driving force in building a more predictable and constructive pattern of relationships among nations in the Asia-Pacific region to ensure lasting peace and security. Economically, ASEAN shall move towards greater economic integration with emphasis on sustainable and equitable growth. Finally, ASEAN shall nourish a caring and cohesive ASEAN community, whose strength lies in fostering a common regional identity and a shared vision for the future.

Overview
ESTABLISHMENT The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam then joined on 7 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN. AIMS AND PURPOSES As set out in the ASEAN Declaration, the aims and purposes of ASEAN are:
1. To accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations; 2. To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries of the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter;

3. To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields; 4. To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in the educational, professional, technical and administrative spheres; 5. To collaborate more effectively for the greater utilisation of their agriculture and industries, the expansion of their trade, including the study of the problems of international commodity trade, the improvement of their transportation and communications facilities and the raising of the living standards of their peoples; 6. To promote Southeast Asian studies; and 7. To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes, and explore all avenues for even closer cooperation among themselves.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES In their relations with one another, the ASEAN Member States have adopted the following fundamental principles, as contained in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) of 1976:
1. Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations; 2. The right of every State to lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion; 3. Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another; 4. Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner; 5. Renunciation of the threat or use of force; and 6. Effective cooperation among themselves.

ASEAN COMMUNITY The ASEAN Vision 2020, adopted by the ASEAN Leaders on the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN, agreed on a shared vision of ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies. At the 9th ASEAN Summit in 2003, the ASEAN Leaders resolved that an ASEAN Community shall be established. At the 12th ASEAN Summit in January 2007, the Leaders affirmed their strong commitment to accelerate the establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015 and signed the Cebu Declaration on the Acceleration of the Establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015. The ASEAN Community is comprised of three pillars, namely the ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Each pillar has its own Blueprint, and, together with the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Strategic Framework and IAI Work Plan Phase II (2009-2015), they form the Roadmap for and ASEAN Community 2009-2015.

Please click here for the ASEAN Political-Security Community VideoDownload Video. Please click here for the ASEAN Economic Community Video. Please click here for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Video. Please click here for ASEAN History and Purposes. ASEAN CHARTER The ASEAN Charter serves as a firm foundation in achieving the ASEAN Community by providing legal status and institutional framework for ASEAN. It also codifies ASEAN norms, rules and values; sets clear targets for ASEAN; and presents accountability and compliance. The ASEAN Charter entered into force on 15 December 2008. A gathering of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers was held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta to mark this very historic occasion for ASEAN. With the entry into force of the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN will henceforth operate under a new legal framework and establish a number of new organs to boost its community-building process. In effect, the ASEAN Charter has become a legally binding agreement among the 10 ASEAN Member States. Find out more about the ASEAN Charter here. General information

History
The Founding of ASEAN

On 8 August 1967, five leaders - the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - sat down together in the main hall of the Department of Foreign Affairs building in Bangkok, Thailand and signed a document. By virtue of that document, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was born. The five Foreign Ministers who signed it - Adam Malik of Indonesia, Narciso R. Ramos of the Philippines, Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia, S. Rajaratnam of Singapore, and Thanat Khoman of Thailand - would subsequently be hailed as the Founding Fathers of probably the most successful inter-governmental organization in the developing world today. And the document that they signed would be known as the ASEAN Declaration.

It was a short, simply-worded document containing just five articles. It declared the establishment of an Association for Regional Cooperation among the Countries of Southeast Asia to be known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and spelled out the aims and purposes of that Association. These aims and purposes were about cooperation in the economic, social, cultural, technical, educational and other fields, and in the promotion of regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. It stipulated that the Association would be open for participation by all States in the Southeast Asian region subscribing to its aims, principles and purposes. It proclaimed ASEAN as representing "the collective will of the nations of Southeast Asia to bind themselves together in friendship and cooperation and, through joint efforts and sacrifices, secure for their peoples and for posterity the blessings of peace, freedom and prosperity." It was while Thailand was brokering reconciliation among Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia over certain disputes that it dawned on the four countries that the moment for regional cooperation had come or the future of the region would remain uncertain. Recalls one of the two surviving protagonists of that historic process, Thanat Khoman of Thailand: "At the banquet marking the reconciliation between the three disputants, I broached the idea of forming another organization for regional cooperation with Adam Malik. Malik agreed without hesitation but asked for time to talk with his government and also to normalize relations with Malaysia now that the confrontation was over. Meanwhile, the Thai Foreign Office prepared a draft charter of the new institution. Within a few months, everything was ready. I therefore invited the two former members of the Association for Southeast Asia (ASA), Malaysia and the Philippines, and Indonesia, a key member, to a meeting in Bangkok. In addition, Singapore sent S. Rajaratnam, then Foreign Minister, to see me about joining the new set-up. Although the new organization was planned to comprise only the ASA members plus Indonesia, Singapore's request was favorably considered." And so in early August 1967, the five Foreign Ministers spent four days in the relative isolation of a beach resort in Bang Saen, a coastal town less than a hundred kilometers southeast of Bangkok. There they negotiated over that document in a decidedly informal manner which they would later delight in describing as "sports-shirt diplomacy." Yet it was by no means an easy process: each man brought into the deliberations a historical and political perspective that had no resemblance to that of any of the others. But with goodwill and good humor, as often as they huddled at the negotiating table, they finessed their way through their differences as they lined up their shots on the golf course and traded wisecracks on one another's game, a style of deliberation which would eventually become the ASEAN ministerial tradition. Now, with the rigors of negotiations and the informalities of Bang Saen behind them, with their signatures neatly attached to the ASEAN Declaration, also known as the Bangkok Declaration, it was time for some formalities. The first to speak was the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Narciso Ramos, a one-time journalist and long-time legislator who had given up a chance to be Speaker of the Philippine Congress to serve as one of his country's first diplomats. He was then 66 years old and his only son, the future President Fidel V. Ramos, was serving with the Philippine Civic Action Group in embattled Vietnam. He recalled the tediousness of the negotiations that preceded the signing of the Declaration that "truly taxed the goodwill, the

imagination, the patience and understanding of the five participating Ministers." That ASEAN was established at all in spite of these difficulties, he said, meant that its foundations had been solidly laid. And he impressed it on the audience of diplomats, officials and media people who had witnessed the signing ceremony that a great sense of urgency had prompted the Ministers to go through all that trouble. He spoke darkly of the forces that were arrayed against the survival of the countries of Southeast Asia in those uncertain and critical times. "The fragmented economies of Southeast Asia," he said, "(with) each country pursuing its own limited objectives and dissipating its meager resources in the overlapping or even conflicting endeavors of sister states carry the seeds of weakness in their incapacity for growth and their self-perpetuating dependence on the advanced, industrial nations. ASEAN, therefore, could marshal the still untapped potentials of this rich region through more substantial united action." When it was his turn to speak, Adam Malik, Presidium Minister for Political Affairs and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, recalled that about a year before, in Bangkok, at the conclusion of the peace talks between Indonesia and Malaysia, he had explored the idea of an organization such as ASEAN with his Malaysian and Thai counterparts. One of the "angry young men" in his country's struggle for independence two decades earlier, Adam Malik was then 50 years old and one of a Presidium of five led by then General Soeharto that was steering Indonesia from the verge of economic and political chaos. He was the Presidium's point man in Indonesia's efforts to mend fences with its neighbors in the wake of an unfortunate policy of confrontation. During the past year, he said, the Ministers had all worked together toward the realization of the ASEAN idea, "making haste slowly, in order to build a new association for regional cooperation." Adam Malik went on to describe Indonesia's vision of a Southeast Asia developing into "a region which can stand on its own feet, strong enough to defend itself against any negative influence from outside the region." Such a vision, he stressed, was not wishful thinking, if the countries of the region effectively cooperated with each other, considering their combined natural resources and manpower. He referred to differences of outlook among the member countries, but those differences, he said, would be overcome through a maximum of goodwill and understanding, faith and realism. Hard work, patience and perseverance, he added, would also be necessary. The countries of Southeast Asia should also be willing to take responsibility for whatever happens to them, according to Tun Abdul Razak, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, who spoke next. In his speech, he conjured a vision of an ASEAN that would include all the countries of Southeast Asia. Tun Abdul Razak was then concurrently his country's Minister of Defence and Minister of National Development. It was a time when national survival was the overriding thrust of Malaysia's relations with other nations and so as Minister of Defence, he was in charge of his country's foreign affairs. He stressed that the countries of the region should recognize that unless they assumed their common responsibility to shape their own destiny and to prevent external intervention and interference, Southeast Asia would remain fraught with danger and tension. And unless they took decisive and collective action to prevent the eruption of intraregional conflicts, the nations of Southeast Asia would remain susceptible to manipulation, one against another.

"We the nations and peoples of Southeast Asia," Tun Abdul Razak said, "must get together and form by ourselves a new perspective and a new framework for our region. It is important that individually and jointly we should create a deep awareness that we cannot survive for long as independent but isolated peoples unless we also think and act together and unless we prove by deeds that we belong to a family of Southeast Asian nations bound together by ties of friendship and goodwill and imbued with our own ideals and aspirations and determined to shape our own destiny". He added that, "with the establishment of ASEAN, we have taken a firm and a bold step on that road". For his part, S. Rajaratnam, a former Minister of Culture of multi-cultural Singapore who, at that time, served as its first Foreign Minister, noted that two decades of nationalist fervor had not fulfilled the expectations of the people of Southeast Asia for better living standards. If ASEAN would succeed, he said, then its members would have to marry national thinking with regional thinking. "We must now think at two levels," Rajaratnam said. "We must think not only of our national interests but posit them against regional interests: that is a new way of thinking about our problems. And these are two different things and sometimes they can conflict. Secondly, we must also accept the fact, if we are really serious about it, that regional existence means painful adjustments to those practices and thinking in our respective countries. We must make these painful and difficult adjustments. If we are not going to do that, then regionalism remains a utopia." S. Rajaratnam expressed the fear, however, that ASEAN would be misunderstood. "We are not against anything", he said, "not against anybody". And here he used a term that would have an ominous ring even today: balkanization. In Southeast Asia, as in Europe and any part of the world, he said, outside powers had a vested interest in the balkanization of the region. "We want to ensure," he said, "a stable Southeast Asia, not a balkanized Southeast Asia. And those countries who are interested, genuinely interested, in the stability of Southeast Asia, the prosperity of Southeast Asia, and better economic and social conditions, will welcome small countries getting together to pool their collective resources and their collective wisdom to contribute to the peace of the world." The goal of ASEAN, then, is to create, not to destroy. This, the Foreign Minister of Thailand, Thanat Khoman, stressed when it was his turn to speak. At a time when the Vietnam conflict was raging and American forces seemed forever entrenched in Indochina, he had foreseen their eventual withdrawal from the area and had accordingly applied himself to adjusting Thailand's foreign policy to a reality that would only become apparent more than half a decade later. He must have had that in mind when, on that occasion, he said that the countries of Southeast Asia had no choice but to adjust to the exigencies of the time, to move toward closer cooperation and even integration. Elaborating on ASEAN objectives, he spoke of "building a new society that will be responsive to the needs of our time and efficiently equipped to bring about, for the enjoyment and the material as well as spiritual advancement of our peoples, conditions of stability and progress. Particularly what millions of men and women in our part of the world want is to erase the old and obsolete concept of domination and subjection of the past and replace it with the new spirit of give and take, of equality and partnership. More than anything

else, they want to be master of their own house and to enjoy the inherent right to decide their own destiny ..." While the nations of Southeast Asia prevent attempts to deprive them of their freedom and sovereignty, he said, they must first free themselves from the material impediments of ignorance, disease and hunger. Each of these nations cannot accomplish that alone, but by joining together and cooperating with those who have the same aspirations, these objectives become easier to attain. Then Thanat Khoman concluded: "What we have decided today is only a small beginning of what we hope will be a long and continuous sequence of accomplishments of which we ourselves, those who will join us later and the generations to come, can be proud. Let it be for Southeast Asia, a potentially rich region, rich in history, in spiritual as well as material resources and indeed for the whole ancient continent of Asia, the light of happiness and well-being that will shine over the uncounted millions of our struggling peoples." The Foreign Minister of Thailand closed the inaugural session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by presenting each of his colleagues with a memento. Inscribed on the memento presented to the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, was the citation, "In recognition of services rendered by His Excellency Adam Malik to the ASEAN organization, the name of which was suggested by him." And that was how ASEAN was conceived, given a name, and born. It had been barely 14 months since Thanat Khoman brought up the ASEAN idea in his conversations with his Malaysian and Indonesian colleagues. In about three more weeks, Indonesia would fully restore diplomatic relations with Malaysia, and soon after that with Singapore. That was by no means the end to intra-ASEAN disputes, for soon the Philippines and Malaysia would have a falling out on the issue of sovereignty over Sabah. Many disputes between ASEAN countries persist to this day. But all Member Countries are deeply committed to resolving their differences through peaceful means and in the spirit of mutual accommodation. Every dispute would have its proper season but it would not be allowed to get in the way of the task at hand. And at that time, the essential task was to lay the framework of regional dialogue and cooperation. The two-page Bangkok Declaration not only contains the rationale for the establishment of ASEAN and its specific objectives. It represents the organization's modus operandi of building on small steps, voluntary, and informal arrangements towards more binding and institutionalized agreements. All the founding member states and the newer members have stood fast to the spirit of the Bangkok Declaration. Over the years, ASEAN has progressively entered into several formal and legally-binding instruments, such as the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and the 1995 Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone. Against the backdrop of conflict in the then Indochina, the Founding Fathers had the foresight of building a community of and for all Southeast Asian states. Thus the Bangkok Declaration promulgated that "the Association is open for participation to all States in the Southeast Asian region subscribing to the aforementioned aims, principles and purposes." ASEAN's inclusive outlook has paved the way for community-building not only in Southeast Asia, but also in the broader Asia Pacific region where several other inter-governmental organizations now co-exist.

The original ASEAN logo presented five brown sheaves of rice stalks, one for each founding member. Beneath the sheaves is the legend "ASEAN" in blue. These are set on a field of yellow encircled by a blue border. Brown stands for strength and stability, yellow for prosperity and blue for the spirit of cordiality in which ASEAN affairs are conducted. When ASEAN celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 1997, the sheaves on the logo had increased to ten - representing all ten countries of Southeast Asia and reflecting the colors of the flags of all of them. In a very real sense, ASEAN and Southeast Asia would then be one and the same, just as the Founding Fathers had envisioned. This article is based on the first chapter of ASEAN at 30, a publication of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in commemoration of its 30th Anniversary on 8 August 1997, written by Jamil Maidan Flores and Jun Abad. Further readings in ASEAN History: Thanat Khoman, "ASEAN Conception and Evolution", in the ASEAN Reader, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1992. S. Rajaratnam, "ASEAN: The Way Ahead", in The ASEAN Reader, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1992.