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Constructing myriad facets of the Asean identity

Suvarnabhumi International Airport recently opened three exclusive "Asean Lanes" for "Asean Nationals" visiting Thailand. This is part of the effort, or rather the public relations blitz, to prepare the country for the Asean Community (AC), or to be more precise the Asean Economic Community (AEC) - the noble objective Thais are crazy about these days. Many Asean visitors were bewildered to see three white banners with black letters reading "Asean Nationals", as they had no idea of their purpose. Some said they looked like airport advertisements.

Noticeably, the airport authorities jammed too much information on the televisions above each of the immigration counters - so much so that the main message was lost. In the world's renowned international airports, there is no such audiovisual pollution.

Thailand was the first country to introduce Asean lanes. But the idea was not new. To commemorate the 5th Asean Summit in December 1995, Thailand created an Asean lane at Don Mueang Airport, the country's principal airport at the time. After nearly three years, it was abolished because Asean visitors showed no sense of belonging to the group and did not see themselves as Asean nationals when they visited other countries. As it turned out, more foreign tourists, especially Europeans, used the Asean lane. The European identity is much stronger than the Asean identity due to the former's political and cultural union. Many visitors from Asean will easily recall the uncomfortable feeling when, checking in at major European airports for connecting flights, they mistakenly queued up at so-called EU lanes. In 2000, the member nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation agreed that an Apec lane must be set up to facilitate the movement of investors and traders among them. Apec cardholders can go through diplomatic lanes at immigration counters at member countries' airports. No such arrangement within Asean.

Former Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda once proposed a plan for Asean to issue the so-called "laissez passir" document for Asean bureaucrats who travel frequently - not even a common passport like the EU passport. But it was immediately shot down. The visa-free travel document would help promote a sense of belonging and empowerment among Asean bureaucrats. The nearly 80 Asean civil servants at the Jakarta-based Asean Secretariat still have to go through immigration regulations as some of them are openly recruited - not from secondment - and do not hold official passports.

Truth be told, not all of the new Asean members are comfortable with the idea of granting visa-free travel. They still fear that ill-intentioned elements might sneak in and cause trouble inside their countries, especially extremists and militants. Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia are extremely sensitive. However, some of them frankly admit that visa fees, which average US$20 (about Bt600) per trip, are still desirable because they help offset the costs of the immigration operations.

No one grasps the idea that with more Asean tourists coming - and expected to total 120 million in the next three years - they would bring in more foreign earnings for their countries. Officials responsible for tourism promotion in Asean are at a loss as they try to come up with a Schengen-like visa scheme allowing tourists to enter all Asean members with a single visa. This idea, which was also taken up at the Phnom Penh summit last month, has been on the table for years without a consensus being reached. Back in the mid-1990s, the Asean leaders also used to discuss the adoption of a common time zone to facilitate working hours among Asean countries. Currently, time differences of up to three hours exist between Asean's major cities. Countries benefiting from earlier hours thought it was a bad idea to kick of trading and banking hours at the same time.

Understanding the complexities and difficulties of building a common Asean identity amid the euphoria of diversity, the Asean leaders are going after easier projects. They have also learned some hard lessons from their experience. When the Hezbollah group attacked Lebanon in 2006, both workers from the Philippines and Thais were affected. Thailand asked the Philippines, which has an embassy in Lebanon, to help care for and protect its citizens, which went well despite some language and financial problems. For the first time, an Asean embassy attempted to assist other member's nationals. The rescued Thais praised Asean and said they were proud to be Asean citizens.

The biggest achievement in forging a common identity is the new alignment of calendars of higher educational institutions in Asean. Now, all universities within the grouping will begin and end their academic years at the same time. The new academic year will start next September. It is expected there will be more exchange students within the region taking different courses at universities in member countries.

With the Asean Charter in place in 2008, the members began to raise Asean flags on Asean Day - August 8 -its founding day. Now in Asean embassies in major countries, the Asean flags are hoisted along with national flags.

One official from an Asean embassy pointed out it would cost at least about $3,000 to erect a pole for an extra flag. Just imagine the cost of building 193 extra poles for Asean flags in embassies and consular offices around the world. Certain countries cannot afford to do so due to budget constraints. Before that, there was an aborted idea of making Asean Day a national holiday for all. Another popular activity is to play the 1.04-minute Asean anthem - "The Asean Way" - even though some

members find it hard to do. In the streets of Phnom Penh, Yangon and Bangkok today, passers-by can hear this anthem from time to time. They can buy flags of the Asean members and the Asean Secretariat. Despite all that, the grouping still does not have a common sense of the history for the organisation.

In the blueprint of the Asean Social and Cultural Community, under the section "Building Asean Identity", all the members have to implement a total of 22 action plans to help strengthen the Asean identity, including the above-

mentioned activities. These include engaging the mainstream media in Asean to promote all Asean programmes and other projects. One of the priorities is to promote interfaith dialogue and understanding, and a culture of tolerance within the Asean community. So far, the Asean media community is still very parochial, writing about themselves and their ties with Asean without broader references or perspective. Indeed, none of the major media establishments in Asean have attempted to promote Asean as a collective identity. The European media has been a strong proponent to create a stronger sense of a European community.

Addition political will is needed to implement remaining action plans. Otherwise, the Asean identity that the grouping's leaders envisage and like to boast about will ring hollow.

By Kavi Chongkittavorn

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Country: Association of South East Asian Nations
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Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Constructing-myriad-facets-of-the-Asean-identity-30195844.html
When: 27/12/2012

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