ASEAN Fact Sheet A S E A N : A s s o c i a t i o n o f S o u t h e a s t A s i a n n a t i o n s H e a d o f f i c e : J a k a r t a f r o m 1 9 7 6 Working language:EnglishD e m o n y m : Southeast AsianMember states:10Government:Regional organizationExisting President : Avijeet Vejjavija (Thailand)Founding S.

general: Hartono Dharsono Secretary General:Surin PitsuwanF o r m a t i o n : Ban gkok Declaration8 August 1967Charter : 16 December 2008T y p e : Geo-politicaland economic organizationI n i t i a l m e m b e r s : 5 ( Indonesia,Ma laysia, t h e Philippines,SingaporeandThailand)C u r r e n t m e m b e r s : 1 0 ( Indonesia,Malaysia, thePhilippines,SingaporeandThailand,Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia)O b s e r v i n g c o u n t r y : P a p u a N e u g i n i Very last convention: 25 February- 1 March, 2009 in Thailand Introduction: ASEAN is renowned for its miracle economic growth, outstanding politicalconsensus among member states, more pacific multi lateral relations,extraordinary intellectual exchange and finally anti-communist stand point. In this paper we attempted to examine the contributing factors towards the success of ASEAN. We included economic, social, political, security and some other factorscontributing to the success of ASEAN.However, after its foundation on 8 th August 1967, many incidents had made co-operation harder in international arena. ASEAN overcome those with patiencewithout sacrificing its core values. It maintained a constant code of conduct withthe super power USA in the time of Cold War. ASEANs security relationshipwith the West is unlikely to change as long as the organization is made up of fundamentally pro-Western governments, hostile toward communism (Buszynski1987). And of the other hand it got comparatively more congenial policy setting infavor. ASEAN was indeed a special arena of US policy: a grouping of Third worldstates which through its generally pro Western development policy coulddistinguish from unstable, radical areas of the Third World where nationalism isoften anti-American in character (Buszynski 1987).This is one side story. the another side is emerging influence of China in

globaleconomy and poor public orientation in ASEAN regional forum may characterizedas a criticism of its achievements through last four decades. With the changes of the world politics and economy through several shocking incidents like Afghanand Iraq war and global economic recession in early 21 st century, ASEAN is alsoconcerned for their position on future. Though the former Secretary General of ASEAN Ong Keng Young stated, If you are wondering about the future of ASEAN, worrying about how ASEAN will be hurt by the ongoing war on Iraq ,let me assure you that the future of ASEAN is still bright (Young: 2003) Beside the factors of war or economic crisis ASEAN is facing many challengesfrom different sides. ASEAN is criticized for its poor record of democracy, humanrights and fundamental freedom, economic reservation, poor human security statusand maintenance of environmental well-being. These are the factors what will playthe key role in determining the future of ASEAN with inevitable action andreaction of international politics. Establishment and Development of ASEAN: One of the most significant events in the history of the Southeast Asia was theformation of Asian. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) wasformed in 1967 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration by the five originalm e m b e r c o u n t r i e s I n d o n e s i a , M a l a y s i a , T h e P h i l i p p i n e s , S i n g a p o r e , a n d Thailan d. The objective of the formation was twofold. 1. F i r s t o n e i s , t o p r o mo t e p e a c e a n d s t a b i l i t y i n t h e r e g i o n . At t h a t t i me , Southeast Asia was divided by ideological conflict and war. Territorialdisputes and racial tensions between neighbors, there was a possibility thatthe differences could degenerate into a full blown armed conflict, leading toa lengthen fragmentation of Southeast Asia. 2. And the second one is, to contain the spread of communism to SoutheastAs i a n c ou n t r i e s . At t h i s t i me c h i n a wa s o pe n l y a d o p t e d s o me p o l i c i e s towards the Southeast Asia to export communism with the association of s o m e l o c a l r e b e l g r o u p s o f S o u t h e a s t A s i a . T h e s e w e r e l e d b y t h e communist parties in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. In thisrespect, the origins of ASEAN were similar to those of the European Union(EU), in that the founding countries initially came together for

political andsecurity reasons, rather than a desire to benefit from economic integration. The stages of development or brief history: Through different period ASEAN developed in its way. ASEAN was not firstr e g i o n a l g r o u p c r e a t e d t o a c t a s a f o r u m f o r d i a l o g u e b e t we e n leaders of thev a r i o u s c o u n t r i e s . T h e a s s o c i a t i o n o f s o u t h e a s t A s i a A S A , c o m p r i s i n g t h e federation of Malay, the Philippines and Thailand, was formed in 1961. However,the organization became obsolete one year later, after the Sabah dispute betweenthe federation of Malay and the Philippines. Diplomatic ties between Kualampur a n d m a n i l a w e r e s e v e r e d d u r i n g 1 9 6 2 6 6 . T h e c o n f r o n t a t i o n l a u n c h e d b y Indonesias late president Sukarno also led to the demise of Malphilonido, whichincluded Indonesia, the federation of Malay and the Philippines. The concept of Malphilndo was mooted by former Philippines president Macapagal.Th e p o l i t ic a l s t a b i l i t y o f M a l a y wa s t h e n t h r e a t e n e d b y t h e mi l i t a n c y o f t h e communist. In the federation Malay, the communist carried out insurgent activities p u r p o r t e d l y t o free the countries from the British rule. Sin gapore was also i n danger of being taken over by a communist backed faction of the ruling party. Aseries of leftist inspired strikes and a wave of student demonstrations rocked theS i n g a p o r e e c o n o my i n t h e l a t e 1 9 5 0 s a n d e a r l y 1 9 6 0 s . Th e f e a r i n s t i l l e d b y a communist control Singapore contributed to the proposition of forming an alliancec o mp r i s i n g B r u n e i , t h e f e d e r a t i o n o f M a l a y, S a b a h , S a r a wa k and Singapore.H o w e v e r , a n i m p o r t a n t m i n o r i t y o f p e o p l e w a s a g a i n s t t h e a l l i a n c e . S o m e minorities were uneasy over the political dominance of the Malays in the newfederation. In 1962, referendums conducted by the commission of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore showed that a majority of people were in favors of joining the newfederation of Malaysia. Brunei, on the other hand, had rejected the idea of joiningt h e f e d e r a t i o n , a s t h e c o u n t r y wo u l d l o s e c o n t r o l o f i t s v a s t o i l r e s e r v e s a f t e r jo i n i n g t h e n e w f e d e r a t i o n . Th u s , i n 1 9 6 3 , t h e f e d e r a t i o n o f M a l a ys i a , wh i c h consisted of only Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and the federation of Malaya, wasformed