ASEAN at crossroads: Calls grow for reform as bloc marks its anniversary
As ASEAN turns another year older, former diplomats and experts urge the regional body to break free from consensus paralysis, revisit its charter, and confront humanitarian crises with greater resolve
Mushfiq Ahmed
KARACHI, Pakistan (MNTV) — As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) marks ASEAN Day, reflections on its journey are being accompanied by growing doubts over its future.
Former diplomats and regional experts say the time for self-congratulation is over. Instead, they argue, ASEAN must face its internal dysfunction and institutional inertia if it wishes to remain relevant in an increasingly complex and volatile Asia-Pacific.
Sanaullah, Pakistan’s former ambassador to ASEAN, voices what many now feel: that the bloc’s commitment to consensus over majority rule has become its Achilles’ heel.
“There are lingering conflicts between its members – between Thailand and Cambodia, between Vietnam and Cambodia. Their progress towards harmonization is very slow,” Sanaullah told MNTV.
While ASEAN was born with the ambition of regional peace and economic integration, the slow grind of decision-making has become a major bottleneck, according to him. “Even statements are issued when there is a consensus. Targets are set after consensus,” he noted, suggesting that majority-based decisions might offer a more pragmatic alternative.
Sanaullah is especially critical of ASEAN’s failure to intervene meaningfully in the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. “Burma was the president of ASEAN at a time when the Rohingya were being expelled, their villages were being burnt,” he recalled.
The bloc’s diplomatic silence during this period, he said, exposed the limitations of its much-vaunted principle of non-interference. “There is little hope for Rohingya. No one is willing to own them– not Saudi Arabia, not Pakistan,” he added with stark finality.
Former ambassador Zafar Sheikh agrees that ASEAN’s current structure ties its hands when it comes to humanitarian interventions. “ASEAN has tried to help the Rohingya, through the UN as well, but that has not been sufficient,” he said. “If they revise their charter to include refugees, things may get better for the Rohingya.”
Stuck in structure, stuck in time
The problem, Sheikh adds, is built into the very bones of ASEAN’s founding document. The group’s charter prevents deeper engagement with refugee or human rights issues.
Its rigid membership structure is another concern. “China, India, and Pakistan tried to become part of the group but failed,” he noted, pointing out how such exclusion has also limited ASEAN’s regional leverage.
He draws a telling comparison with the European Union. “The EU has been able to achieve significant economic integration and has welcomed new member states,” said Sheikh. “But ASEAN cannot be like the EU. ASEAN member states have different cultures and historical contexts.”
Even on economic goals, ASEAN seems to be falling behind. Formed to build a robust regional market, it had set 2015 as the deadline to realize an ASEAN Economic Community. A decade later, that promise remains largely unmet.
“It hasn’t been able to form an economic market which it was supposed to form by 2015,” said Sanaullah. “The intra-regional trade also remains low.”
Dr. Amir Hussain of Karachi University’s Applied Economics Research Center believes the idea of ASEAN transforming into a customs union — akin to the EU model — is a worthy aspiration, but one that’s far from easy.
“It would require a lot of legislation,” he said, cautioning that the legislative groundwork and political will required for such transformation are immense.
As the flags go up and speeches are read out to commemorate ASEAN Day, many within and beyond Southeast Asia are asking whether the bloc still has the capacity to evolve. Will it adapt to the demands of a post-pandemic, multipolar world, or remain trapped in its founding principles, watching from the sidelines as crises unfold?
If nothing else, this anniversary may be the right moment for ASEAN to pause — not just to celebrate, but to confront the urgent reforms that can carry it forward into the next decade.
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
