A rose or a unicorn? Asean's mission under the spotlight

Connectivity is a key theme of Asean's summit this week. Despite various initiatives, the building of connections beyond transactional ones still has some way to go.

- Lily Kong

In 1995, political scientist Donald Emmerson raised a provocative question: Is South-east Asia more like a rose, that is, a region with a vibrant, distinct identity, or is it a unicorn, an elusive construct without a reality? This question challenges us to consider if the region embodies a cohesive identity or exists only as an abstraction.

South-east Asia is a vast and diverse region, home to myriad cultures, ethnicities and religious traditions. Some would posit that there are social and cultural commonalities, bound further by overlapping histories of colonisation and trade.

Others foreground differences, and highlight the transitions and instabilities, just as geographer Charles Fisher did in 1962, when he likened South-east Asia to the Balkans of the Orient, on account of its geographical fragmentation, the cultural and political fault lines, and its character as a "great crossing place of land and sea routes".

There is a general tendency to conflate "South-east Asia" with "Asean". Today, all of Asean's member states are part of South-east Asia, but they do mean different things.

South-east Asia references a geographical region south of China and east of India, and we can deliberate the social, cultural and economic characteristics of the region. Asean, on the other hand, is an alliance of nations with a specific mission to foster regional cooperation, promote peace and stability, and accelerate economic growth.

As Asean holds its summit this week, the chosen theme is "Connectivity and Resilience". How connected a region are we, and how would we assess our resilience?

ASEAN: CONNECTED AND RESILIENT?

Since its establishment in 1967, Asean has focused on building consensus through policies of non-interference.