As if climate change were not worrying enough, now the President of a Climate Leader is opting out of the Paris Agreement. And this is the country whose former vice president won a Nobel Prize for stimulating global concern for climate change. This is also the country that championed human rights whose leader has now put Philippine President Duterte on his favorite presidents list, alongside President Putin.
When ASEAN was formed in 1975, it was formally nonaligned. But it openly supports and is protected by the United States. The inhumanity of war and the arrogance described in ‘The Ugly American’ was the stuff of writers’ observation. The US government distanced itself from such characteristics. Now nuclear war is on the table and human rights are out of range of the US Presidents intellectual capacity.
Things have changed also in ASEAN in 50 years. Its members have grown from 5 to 10 and positions have diversified among ASEAN governments. No one is for or against America because the process of ‘Making America Great Again’ does not invite allies participation. In fact no one is sure who are the allies and who are the adversaries.
The vacuum in superpowers wielding decisive influence in ASEAN is arguably positive as ASEAN members seek to establish their independence and national strategies. The question is whether it is all right for the moral compass to be whirled around like an ouija board. Each ASEAN country has its own values but it was coherent to have a universal set of values as a common reference.
The challenge to ASEAN is to guide its development from economic cooperation and political understanding based on a set of moral values. Without a common morality we will be skating on thin ice or swimming among sharks as we manoeuver our way in search of growth and togetherness.
Note the words of Angela Merkel: “First we should come to the realisation that the EU cannot completely rely on US and Britain any more.” The German chancellor told an election rally in Munich that Europe must take its fate into its own hands after ‘unsatisfactory’ G7 talks. France also expressed an equally independent statement. During his election campaign, Trump frequently questioned the value of the EU, welcomed Britain’s vote to leave the bloc and spoke positively of anti-EU politicians such as the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. A few months later, EU has seen its bonds strengthen and character develop while maintaining relations with the US.
ASEAN can follow this path to independence. We have outgrown our dependence, and the membership has expanded from 5 staunchly pro-Western nations to a kaleidoscope of 10 different persuasions. Nationalism is strong in most nations, albeit in different forms and degrees. It is a potent force and creates competition, even tension, in each nation’s domestic politics. This diversity if harnessed and exploited positively will prepare the groundwork for a strong regional set of common values to the point where dependence on superpowers will no longer be an issue. For ASEAN, pluralism points the way forward.
