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ASEAN MEMBERSHIP
ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations, this regional group started and began with the dissolution of the SEATO, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. The South East Asia Treaty Organization was aimed to be a sister treaty of the NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the member states of the South East Asia Treaty Organization were: Australia, France, New Zealand, Thailand, Pakistan including Bangladesh at that time, Philippines, Taiwan or better known as the Republic of China, United Kingdom and the United States of America. Military forces of each member state would be coordinated just as patterned to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an attack to one state is an attack to all members. Pakistan was included not only because East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was geographically close to Southeast Asia, but possibly because Pakistan was a member of the pro-Western Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) alliance. Thus the pro-Western, anti-communist military alliances of the Mid-east and Southeast Asia were linked by the membership of Pakistan in both. Despite being intended to provide a collective, anti-communist shield to Southeast Asia, SEATO was unable to intervene in the conflicts in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam because an intervention required a decision of unanimity, which was never reached; France and the Philippines objected. Intervention in the Vietnam conflict was sought again later, but France and Pakistan withheld support. The South East Asian Treaty Organization was made similar to the Truman Doctrine which was very much anti-communist and quite a collective treaty made for an Alliance against a South East Asian communist attack. With the declining interest of two member states in the area particularly the French Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in South East Asia, France formally withdrew on June thirtieth of the year 1974 and the South East Asia Treaty Organization formally dissolved and ended in 1977.

The Association of South East Asian Nations is an economic and geo-political organization in South East Asia with currently having ten member states, the organization was formed by three states at first namely the Philippines, Indonesia, the Federal Republic of Malaysia, the Republic of Singapore and the Kingdom of Thailand on August 1967. Membership has increased as the organization progressed with the inclusion of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the People’s Democratic Republic of Lao, the Sultanate of Brunei, the People’s Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and Myanmar formerly known as Burma at that time. The aim of this regional organization is economic growth, social progress, peace and stability in the region, cultural development, and for members to discuss issues peacefully. The association of south east Asian nation always holds a summit with rotating members hosting it, in these summits policies and economic trade are being discussed as well as security concerns over the region and the world in which the organization can help. The organization has a free trade agreement with all its members, it was signed in 1982 at the Republic of Singapore, when it was signed it only had six members at that time, namely the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, Republic of Indonesia, the Federal Republic of Malaysia, the Sultanate of Brunei and the Kingdom of Thailand.

Making of Asean
Even as the former protagonists sought to restore friendly ties after five acrimonious years, it was clear that a permanent and lasting solution was imperative to avert a repetition of the disruptive experiences and more pointedly, hostility between the main regional players. In short, a regional framework for co-operative action and assistance was required.

There had been three previous attempts, none of which proved effective. The first was the formation of the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), in July 1961, and largely inspired by the results of the historic Bandung Conference of Afro-Asian countries in 1955. ASA covered Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Its limited membership, and accusations that it was pro-West doomed ASA from the outset. It was effectively an extension of the earlier Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), a Western-orientated social-cummilitary umbrella.

In 1963, with Indonesia and the Philippines at odds with Malaysia, sukarno’s trusted foreign minister, Dr Subandrio, supported a Filipino initiative for the formation of a Greater Malay Confederation to embrace Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and by implication exclude Thailand. (Singapore was then part of Malaysia.) The Maphilindo concept was virtually stillborn as its appeal was very narrow and threatened the alienation of non-Muslim nationals in those and neighbouring countries. The very fact that a predominantly Catholic Philippines proposed the union also caused some consternation. That tireless worker for peace, Thanat Khoman, was the prime mover to a larger than ASA grouping, and the timing of his suggestion in 1966 gave it added appeal. He sounded out Adam Malik, and then took the proposal to Tunku Abdul Rahman. It later ensued that the proposal envisaged including India, Burma and Cambodia, and that Adam Malik favoured the larger grouping. In their deliberations, the governments of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines sensed that a far-reaching historical initiative was at hand. The price to be paid, however, was acceptance of Indonesia’s unique role as a first among equals. It was in dire need of economic reconstruction, but to attract aid from the West it desperately needed international respectability. Thus the unique opportunity of assisting Indonesia lay in the hands of its neighbors. The Filipinos noted that the name SEEARC sounded too much like a shark and “Asean” was thus agreed upon instead. This new organization showed even greater promise for peace, stability and co-operation in our region in of the world, and for progress in economic, social and cultural developments in the fields of technology and research.

Asean was born at a time when the Communist Chinese called for a People’s War, and the United States’ involvement in Vietnam was escalating. For the founding fathers of Asean, the timing would prove providential; Asean nevertheless had to contend with its share of teething problems.

Asean almost faded into oblivion a little over a year after it was formed. This caused a temporary suspension of the group’s activities, hampered co-operative efforts, and strained relations between some of the mebers for several years thereafter. The “CorregidorAffair” revived the Philippine claim over Sabah, yet again testing relations between Kuala Lumpur and Manila. The incident stemmed from the discovery of a special military force comprising Muslim recruits. They were reportedly trained on the island of Corregidor, where US General Douglas McArthur (1880-1964) made his final stand against the Japanese more than two decades previously. The purpose of the military force was to infiltrate Sabah.

A furious Malaysian government lodged a formal protest in September 1968. A subsequent meeting between Tun Abdul Razak and Narciso Ramos (Foreign Minister of the Philippines) in Bangkok proved fruitless. They, however, agreed on a cooling-off period. Matters worsened when the Philippine Congress approved a resolution delineating Philippine territorial waters. The bill made it clear that the Philippines had acquired dominion and sovereignty around the territory of Sabah and its waters. The situation was further exacerbated by a directive to the Filipinos diplomats that they were to, at international conferences, record reservation over Malaysia’s competence to represent Sabah. When one such reservation was recorded, at an Asean meeting, the Malaysians demanded its withdrawal, failing which they would not attend any further meetings of the organization. The Philippines stood firm and Diplomatic Representatives were withdrawn from their respective capitals and Asean came to a standstill.
The Philippines was also on the threshold of political changes. The stage was set with the election of Ferdinand Marcos to the presidency. Like Suharto, President Ferdinand Marcos had a daunting task in his hands. His primary task was to neutralize the warring political factions that had left the country in limbo, put down insurgents including the Huks and the fanatical Lapiang Malaya. The latter group once storm the Presidential Palace, Malacanang, resulting in 33 deaths. After a disastrous 1966,the economy staged a mild recovery which was sustained in subsequent years. An intensified programme to improve the economic infrastructure was implemented, with top priority given to increasing rice and corn production. The results were creditable: the manufacturing sector recovered and dramatic advances on the agricultural font were recorded. In 1968, the GNP grew an impressive 6 per cent.

Asean in the Philippines
Asean heads of state met for the 3rd Asean Summit, in Manila marking the culmination of 18 months of extensive preparations by senior political and economic officials. While the theme of the 3rd summit was firmly on furthering economic co-operation, the leaders endorsed the signing of a Protocol Amending the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, which effectively allowed other states in and outside Southeast Asia to accede to the Treaty, thus making them eligible for membersip. This marked the first of several moves aimed at enlarging the group of six.
In announcing new measures to intensify economic ties, the leaders would have remembered the harsh criticism leveled by their host, President Cory Aquino, soon after she assumed office in February 1986. She blasted Asean for spending 19 years “endlessly discussing regional economic co-operation but failing to expand ties and depending on the industrial West for growth”. In her opinion, “Asean had fallen short of its goals and lack the progress on substantive economic issues threatened to render meaningless our continued association.” Though President Aquino did not repeat her views in public, her strident criticism somehow seemed to have achieved the desired effect.

One of the agreements signed was a basic revision of the AIJV scheme to make it more flexible, quicker to implement and more attractive to private investors. This followed an earlier agreement aimed at deepening the minimum margin of tariff preference (MOP) by the participating countries, from 50 per cent to 75 per cent. Further revisions were ratified to deepen the MOP to a minimum of 90 per cent.

The Asean Heads of Government endorsed a package of new initiatives in the areas of trade, tourism, investment, finance and banking, transportation and communications, and food, agriculture and forestry. These were embodied in Three Agreements signed by the Economic Ministers at the Summit.

The first was aimed at encouraging intra-Asean trade via a widening of the items covered by the PTA, and a further deepening of the MOP. A five-year time frame was set, but exceptions were made for Indonesia and the Philippines to comply within seven years. A memorandum called for immediate standstill on non-tariff barriers (NTBs) with negotiations on a rollback of existing NTBs to commence immediately and be concluded within five years. The revamped Asean Secretariat, long overdue, was charged with the responsibilityof monitoring adherence to the agreement.

An Agreement of the Promotion and Protection of Investments was adopted, aimed at increasing the flow of investment and technology, thus accelerating industrialization of the whole region.

The 3rd summit endorsed several other new initiatives including the setting up of an Asean Reinsurance Corporation. To stimulate intra-Asean trade and private sector investment, the leaders agreed to accelerate co-operation in the fields of finance, taxation and customs procedures. It urged the avoidance of double taxation, liberalization in the use of Asean currencies in bilateral trade and training programmes to harmonize tax and customs administration.

In reviewing industrial co-operation, the Leaders sat a modest target of raising intra-Asean investments to a level that constituted at least 10 per cent of total foreign investments in Aseans by the year 2000. To boost the PTA, the leaders recommended that the exclusion lists be limited to 10 per cent or less of traded items within five to seven years, and that items remaining on the exclusion lists account for no more than 50 per cent of intra-Asean trade value. Items phased into the PTA would enjoy improved MOP on a graduation scale. Many of these measures were successfully implemented over the successive years. And in retrospect the Manila Summit finally paved the way for the establishment of the Asean Free Trade Area.

Asean was established to ensure that its members did not wage on each other, and hopefully by extension, as a non-aligned block not be drawn into larger conflicts. The critics were almost, but not quite right as the grouping’s members faced several early challenges even as momentous changes were taking place worldwide. If the past years are any measure of what Asean is capable of achieving, then it can take comfort in the assurance of continuing to be the region’s most prestigious and influential organization and a world leader dedicated to peace and prosperity and the standard bearer of the need and aspirations of its peoples and neighbours.

The evolution of an Asean identity by 2050 is not an indisctinct possibility, and even it comes close enough to attaining this objective, then the group would truly have come of age.