Common Block

Ten South-East Asian nations agreed to form an economic block by 2015, European Union-style sans the common currency with the signing of the Charter earlier this week. With a population roughly the same as Europe's, it is clearly aimed at countering the growing economic might of both China and India, with more than a billion people each.

Singapore is very aggressive in pushing for the Charter, not only because it holds the rotation presidency, but as a hub of financial services and transport, it benefits tremendously from seamless trade activities in the region.

There is a wide economic disparity among member-countries, with Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei on the top end of the spectrum; Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and now, Vietnam straddling the middle-level; and Laos, Burma and Cambodia on the lower end. How to bridge this gap and allow the benefits of free trade to filter down to the less-developed economies is clearly a big challenge.

Political structures also vary: only Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines seems to fall under democratic governments, as the rest adopts (1) a one-party system such as the communist states in French Indo-China, (2) ruled by a military junta (Burma and Thailand), (3) an absolute monarchy (Brunei) or simply, (4) a democratic police-state like Singapore.

No wonder then, political considerations take a back seat. The issue of Burma's crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents has been sidestepped and the association has treated it with kid gloves. Thailand, in particular, is sensitive considering that a huge portion of its gas requirements are sourced from Burma.

Unfortunately, ASEAN's credibility has been assailed precisely because of inaction in influencing events in Burma.

But I think the more important agenda has always been the signing of the Charter, to give the proposed economic bloc a legal entity for the long-term, if the whole region were to break away from the tentacles of China and India.

What to do with Burma within the ASEAN will remain an open question, probably in the same way that Turkey's inclusion in the European Union remains a big issue among Europeans.