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Human Insecurities in Southeast Asia: Impediments to Achieving a People-Oriented ASEAN

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Book cover Human Insecurities in Southeast Asia

Part of the book series: Asia in Transition ((AT,volume 5))

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Abstract

In 2003, ASEAN issued the Bali Concord II. In this declaration, ASEAN pledged to create the ASEAN Community (AC). One of the AC’s goals is to address Southeast Asian human insecurities and eventually achieve a people-oriented ASEAN, manifested in the blueprints of the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). This chapter argues that a significant impediment to achieving a people-oriented ASEAN is the ASEAN Way, which ASEAN embedded in its roadmaps for the AC-building and AC-operating processes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ASEAN was established in 1967 by its original members Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei and Vietnam joined the association in 1984 and 1995, respectively. Laos and Myanmar joined in 1997, and the latest member—Cambodia—joined in 1999.

  2. 2.

    At the 12th ASEAN Summit, held in the Philippines in January 2007, ASEAN leaders agreed to push forward the realization of the AC from 2020 to 2015.

  3. 3.

    In 2008, ASEAN declared at the 13th ASEAN Summit that the ASC would henceforth be the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC).

  4. 4.

    Because the principle of nonuse of force is not a controversial element in the ASEAN Way, analysis of the ASEAN Way in this chapter will focus on the nonbinding mechanism and the principle of noninterference.

  5. 5.

    Between 1941 and 1945, the Japanese militarily occupied Southeast Asia, extracting natural resources from the region.

  6. 6.

    In addition, ASEAN issued several human-rights declarations: the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (January 2007), the Declaration on the Enhancement of Welfare and Development of ASEAN Women and Children (October 2010), the Declaration on the Enhancement of the Role and Participation of the Persons with Disabilities in ASEAN Community (November 2011), and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (November 2012).

  7. 7.

    The number of CSOs in Southeast Asia spiraled up from 6558 to 11,270, of which a relative majority were hosted by Malaysia and Indonesia (Chandra 2004, p. 159).

  8. 8.

    It should be noted here that ASEAN newcomers have not tolerated CSO intervention in ASEAN’s agendas. For example, in 2012, when Cambodia assumed ASEAN’s chairmanship, the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC) planned to hold workshops in the Lucky Star Hotel in Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh to discuss human-rights issues and human insecurities, like land grabbing; however, the hotel threatened to cut power to conference rooms and to change padlocks on conference rooms if the workshops went ahead (Gerard 2014, p. 121). CSOs in the ACSC suspected that the Cambodian government was the mastermind behind objections to the ACSC’s activities (Gerard 2014, p. 121).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam

    Ta-Wei Chu

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  1. Ta-Wei Chu
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Correspondence to Ta-Wei Chu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Government, Development and, International Affairs, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

    Paul J. Carnegie

  2. Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Institute of Asian Studies Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam

    Victor T. King

  3. Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Institute of Asian Studies Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam

    Zawawi Ibrahim

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Chu, TW. (2016). Human Insecurities in Southeast Asia: Impediments to Achieving a People-Oriented ASEAN. In: Carnegie, P., King, V., Zawawi Ibrahim (eds) Human Insecurities in Southeast Asia. Asia in Transition, vol 5. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2245-6_10

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