ASEAN has indeed come a long way. A region once riven by the Cold War and beset with territorial disputes and suspicion among newly independent states, it has now become, with few exceptions, increasingly peaceful and stable.
It has maintained a central role in shaping regional architecture and acquired an important voice internationally. Economically, Asean has made great strides.
Collectively, its economy is the third largest in Asia and seventh in the world, while intra-member trade stands at 25 per cent.
Through cooperation and networking, Asean can claim to have enhanced human development in the socio-cultural sector.
However, Asean community-building remains very much a work in progress. Critics point to gaps between commitments and implementation. They blame the non-compliance culture prevalent among member states, the modus operandi and weak institutions.
Throughout four decades, Asean remains an intergovernmental organisation with loose and informal structures, weak institutions and few binding agreements.
The modus operandi is based on respect for the principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states, peaceful settlement of disputes, as well as adherence to a non-confrontational approach by taking decision through consultation and consensus.
This is cited as the “Asean Way”.
The Eminent Persons Group on the Asean Charter in 2007 underlined that Asean must adopt a culture to honour and implement decisions, agreements and timelines.
Notwithstanding this, the Charter had not incorporated an effective compliance or credible dispute settlement mechanism.
Many Asean documents have been coughed up in language essentially non-legalistic in nature. Plainly, non-compliance has undermined Asean’s credibility and impeded its integration.
Asean must also take cognisance of the fact that if a member state is unable to find redress within the group’s framework, it will seek recourse through national or international mechanisms.
Undoubtedly, continued observance of the consensus principle has hampered Asean progress. Primacy continues to be attached to national sovereignty and agendas. Member states will be extremely reluctant to modify the modus operandi to any appreciable degree.
Until they show political willingness to change this way of doing business, the integration process will proceed only in a slow and incremental manner, and Asean centrality is impacted negatively.
The Asean Charter is an attempt to address the inadequacies of Asean institutional structures.
It formalises the establishment of several organs while creating new ones as well as streamlining the decision-making process.
But the institutional mandate of the Asean Secretariat and its secretary-general remains circumscribed.
Nevertheless, the charter is a living document. Work continues to operationalise its provisions, including streamlining processes, improving coordination and strengthening the Asean Secretariat.
This more formalised governance structure should be able to contribute to policy coherence, efficiency and cooperation.
The Asean Charter was adopted in 2007 to recognise the need to better position member states to meet complex and dynamic challenges.
The charter outlines the future direction of Asean, codifies and updates its principles and values, as well as establish legal and institutional frameworks. However, critical decision-making continues to be bound by the Asean Way.
Ultimately, political and diplomatic leadership will continue to shape the pace and process of community-building.
At various times, member states acting alone or in collaboration with others have thwarted the group’s ideas from moving forward.
For project Asean to really succeed, member states have no choice but to accord priority to Asean matters in their respective national agendas.
Datuk Hsu King Bee is a retired diplomat with 39 years of experience in the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Following her retirement, she was appointed as chair to the prestigious Asean High-Level Task Force last year. She was also the first Permanent Representative of Malaysia to Asean from 2009-2011