In unity there is strength, but you hardly feel that in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN has been ineffectual in its efforts to jump-start democratic reforms in Myanmar. Efforts to present Southeast Asia as a single trading bloc and tourism destination have been an uphill struggle.
The idea of strength in regional unity makes sense. Alone, most of the ASEAN countries have weak bargaining positions in trade talks. Even the largest ASEAN country is dwarfed by the behemoth to the north, China, with its market of 1.2 billion people and its continually growing export industries. Stiff competition is also posed by distant Asian neighbor India.
If China and India continue their rapid pace of economic growth and Southeast Asia fails to catch up, we are in deep trouble.
The drive toward regional integration is stronger in Southeast Asia’s most progressive countries such as Singapore. Perhaps when your country is as small as Singapore, you have a keener sense of being a minnow in a lake, in constant danger of being swallowed up by larger fish. Singapore is so tiny it has little room even for mistakes.
We, on the other hand, believe that to err is human; we always make room for complacency, and we are still basking in old glories, believing that we remain at the top of the heap in Southeast Asia.
In fact our neighbors who are not afflicted with smugness are leaving us behind. In the past nine years Thailand has surged ahead of us. If we don’t watch out, we may soon be eating the dust of Vietnam and even Cambodia.
Too disorganized to compete on our own, we can try hitching our fortunes to ASEAN.
Most Filipinos, however, have no sense of belonging to a regional grouping and see little urgency in Southeast Asian integration to improve the country’s competitiveness in a global economy.
On the 39th anniversary of ASEAN last week I was with a group of journalists from all the grouping’s 10 member countries, and it was a pleasant surprise to discover how much we had in common.
Most notable, because of a recent story from Canada about the woes of a Filipino student, was that we all used spoon and fork in all our meals. We all knew how to use chopsticks, but a spoon was the preferred utensil for putting food, especially rice, into one’s mouth and even for cutting meat.
We were also a jolly lot, quick to laugh (loudly) and crack jokes – even those from the poorest member countries.
Singapore, which is aggressively promoting regional integration, launched an ASEAN Film Festival on Aug. 7, the eve of the grouping’s 39th anniversary, with our very own "Mano Po" as the first movie to be featured.
A visit to the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore showed more similarities. The kris, for example, is not unique to the Sulu archipelago. The sword is called keris in the Muslim enclaves of Southeast Asia. But the keris is designed for thrusting; the Philippine kris is for hacking and slashing. It’s not a sturdy weapon, but it is prized more for its mythical power to protect its bearer.
There is another weapon unique to the Philippines: a large one-sided knife with a broad leaf-shaped blade called barong. I must have been asleep when these facts were taught in my history classes.
A visit to the museum also shows how the different religions reached Southeast Asia and spread. Now religion has been twisted and extremism threatens the security of the region.
As Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo told us, "A few troublemakers can create big trouble."
That threat can be dealt with better by a grouping – if ASEAN can get its act together.
As Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pointed out to us, in the past 10 years the forces of globalization have made the world a more competitive place. The recent collapse of international trade talks makes it even tougher for poor countries to compete.
ASEAN could improve its competitiveness, Lee stressed, by presenting itself not just as 10 individual countries big and small but as a group.
The region has a market of nearly half a billion people, with diverse tourist destinations. Proponents of integration are targeting the creation of an "ASEAN community" by 2020, with ASEAN citizenship.
Those are ambitious goals for a region where most people have no sense of belonging to a grouping.
Proponents of integration prefer to look on the bright side, pointing out that ASEAN has been successful in at least one aspect: promoting peace in the region, which allows development.
The grouping was created to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia; this goal was also achieved.
Efforts to integrate the region’s markets are also bearing fruit, though slowly. Yesterday it was announced in Kuala Lumpur that the six oldest members of ASEAN – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – would abolish tariffs on 85 percent of electronic products they traded among each other by January 2007. That’s about three years ahead of schedule.
ASEAN is also on track in abolishing visa requirements for all members.
And yet regional integration can use more urgency. Faced with the challenges of globalization, if we don’t unite, we won’t survive.