The ASEAN Regional Forum: Maintaining the Regional Idea in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Despite the uncertain contribution of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to Asian-Pacific security, its creation is significant in light of the region's lack of multilateral arrangements and especially the long reluctance of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to address questions of security formally as a collective body. By focussing on ASEAN perspectives, this article identifies both external and internal challenges to ASEAN and the notion of 'Southeast Asia' and examines how ARF -- a multilateral security dialogue involving ASEAN and 14 other interested powers, including the United States -- relates to them. It concludes that while the origins of ARF are to be found in basic concerns about Southeast Asia's growing strategic uncertainty, ARF is also an attempt by ASEAN to maintain not only its relevance as a regional organization but also the relevance of Southeast Asia, both conceptually and practically, in a changing world context.ASEAN AND THE, REGIONAL IDEAThis article begins with the premise that 'Southeast Asia' is an idea advanced by ASEAN states to increase certainty in their domestic, regional, and global environments. Though generally accepted today as comprising Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, Southeast Asia is difficult to define in objective terms -- geographically or by its peoples. More water than land, Southeast Asia lacks any single dominant land mass that might identify it and includes both mainland and island countries. As for its peoples, Southeast Asia is far more heterogeneous than homogeneous and boasts a host of different religions, cultures, ethnicities, and languages.Nor can Southeast Asia's political cohesion be assumed. Modern Southeast Asia is plagued by intraregional rivalries, cold war divisions, and territorial disputes. Before the Association of Southeast Asia (ASEAN's predecessor) was created in 1961, there was no indigenous tradition of thinking of Southeast Asia as a political, economic, or cultural entity, and, even then, Southeast Asia's divisions were more apparent than its unity, as illustrated by the Philippines' disruptive claim to Sabah and, especially, by Indonesia's confrontational politics (Konfrontasi).(f.1) As one historian put it: 'Southeast Asia ... is so culturally diverse and politically subdivided as to raise doubts in some minds as to whether it constitutes a meaningful entity in any positive sense.'(f.2)In 1967 Southeast Asia gained political substance with the creation of ASEAN. The founding states -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philipines, Thailand -- congregated not around primordial ties but rather around common and immediate concerns about domestic instability, regional tensions, and the West's commitment to the security of Southeast Asia. Even then, intraregional tensions continued to loom over the grouping: Konfrontasi was a fresh memory, the Philippines' claim to Sabah was unresolved, and four of the five members were engaged in at least one dispute with another member. The issue of security was considered so contentious that it was not identified as an area of intended intra-ASEAN co-operation in the 1967 Bangkok Declaration that established ASEAN, even though ASEAN was founded because of security concerns. These tensions further illustrate the extent to which 'Southeast Asia' as a region is artificial, a socially created political space that has provided member-states with a measure of insulation against the machinations of larger powers and a minimum of assurance about their intentions towards one another. This has allowed them to focus on the important tasks of economic and political development.Since 1967, ASEAN's cohesiveness has largely been sustained by conflict avoidance and by avoiding discussions of such divisive issues as security within the ASEAN framework. Though tensions and conflicts periodically threaten to rise above the surface, intra-ASEAN relations have nevertheless greatly improved over time, gaining both depth and breadth. …