Building ASEAN Identity Through Regional Diplomacy

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established in 1967 to keep peace in South East Asia. The launch of the ASEAN Community in 2015 was a response to incremental regional integration and evolving community building needs as well as the growing level of comfort, trust and political maturity among ASEAN member states throughout the years. While ASEAN was able to transform relations among the state actors, there was concern that diplomacy was not making an impact on ordinary people’s lives. There is a disconnect between ASEAN and the public. Getting ASEAN’s people to buy in and own the shared vision of ASEAN leaders, diplomats and government bureaucrats will allow it to matter to its people. For ASEAN to be meaningful in the next evolution of its development, it must continue to prove its relevance. ASEAN’s next stage of success is tied to its people. Its first fifty years of existence has allowed it to reap the benefits of stability and peace. For the next fifty years, the benefits of ASEAN must be tangible and felt by its people. Building a sense of belonging to the region through a shared destiny would instil a sense of an ASEAN identity that would strengthen the ASEAN Community.