'It is time ASEAN girded up its loins'

By Amit Baruah

BANGKOK, JULY 25. Is the perception that ASEAN has become a `sunset' organisation correct? In a frank address amid a series of feel-good speeches at the ASEAN annual meeting which began on Monday, Singapore's Foreign Minister, Prof. S. Jayakumar, raised pointed questions about the status of ASEAN and the public perceptions about it.

Quoting negative opinions expressed by academics, newspapers and journals, Prof. Jayakumar said: ``We may not like these perceptions of ASEAN as an ineffective and a sunset organisation. We may question whether it is justified. But they are political facts. Perceptions can often define political reality. If we continue to be perceived as ineffective, we can be marginalised as our dialogue partners and international investors relegate us to the sidelines.''

``The danger is real. It is not just a matter of the idiosyncratic opinions of a few newspaper commentators or academics. As of July 6, 2000, one internationally respected market investor index assigned weightages to only four ASEAN countries. The four countries collectively accounted for 23 per cent. The highest weightage given to any ASEAN country was 12 per cent. The others were just in single digits. In comparison, the index assigned 11 per cent to China; 17 per cent to Taiwan, 23 per cent to Hong Kong and 20 per cent to Korea.''

Arguing that these weightages needed to be taken seriously and influenced investment decisions, Prof. Jayakumar quoted The Far Eastern Economic Review as saying that ``most investors from outside the region would rather head for the stability of North Asia than risk further upheavals in ASEAN countries''.

The Foreign Minister was of the view that China's entry into the WTO, while opening up many new opportunities for ASEAN, may also divert investors from the region.

Prof. Jayakumar made four suggestion to turn the situation around. ``It has been axiomatic in ASEAN that regional resilience depends on national resilience. Confidence in ASEAN will not be restored until international investors and our dialogue partners are convinced that we are individually serious about adopting the best standards of government, transparency, corporate governance and the rule of law. I am not advocating one size fits all solutions. Nevertheless, our national standards must be comparable to international best practices. There must be no backsliding on structural reform.''

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Section  : International
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