Asean may be ‘insufficient', but it's indispensable, says academic

Free Malaysia Today

19 hours ago

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Kuik Cheng Chwee said problems within the region will be more difficult to resolve without Asean.
KUALA LUMPUR : An academic said today that while Asean may be perceived as being 'insufficient', the bloc is indispensable.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Kuik Cheng Chwee said Asean was important because it managed and mitigated intra-Asean problems. It also enhanced regional cooperation and prosperity.
He cited the dispute between Cambodia and Thailand over the 11th-century Preah Vihear Temple which the two countries are laying claim to.
'While we have problems within Asean, they would be much bigger and more difficult to resolve without it (the bloc),' Kuik, who heads UKM's Asian studies, said at the 38th Asia-Pacific Roundtable today.
The roundtable, organised by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, is aimed at bringing together diplomats, foreign policy experts and analysts to discuss key issues impacting the Asia-Pacific.
Kuik also said Asean enhanced regional cooperation and prosperity and provided its members, who mainly comprised small and middle powers, with a platform upon which they were better able to navigate global trends including great-power rivalries.
It was for this reason that Asean-centrality and regionalism had been a fixture of Malaysian foreign policy for decades, even before the Anwar Ibrahim administration, he said.
'But nobody will say that Asean is sufficient,' he conceded, acknowledging its weakness when it came to matters that required urgent attention.
These sentiments were shared by Australian academic Stuart Kaye on a separate panel which addressed perspectives on maritime security.
'Does it solve crises particularly well? No, but it was not designed to do that, and it should be commended for the work it does well,' Kaye, director and professor of law at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security said.
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'Asean works best when it is trying to integrate what its members do into a regional roadmap, and it excels in its ability to do this on maritime issues in the South China Sea.'
He said international law assumed that some level of international cooperation was desirable, especially in semi-enclosed seas such as the South China Sea, and Asean's ability to coordinate its response showed its commitment to multilateral cooperation in the region.