ASEAN is a regional organization established in Southeast Asia, a region of significant geopolitical and geoeconomic importance. Awareness of this strategic position motivated the countries in the region to seek cooperation to enhance prosperity, reduce tensions, and strengthen regional security.
The Origins of ASEAN
Since 1965, geopolitical tensions in Southeast Asia have increased, prompting countries in the region to seek collective solutions through cooperation that could improve welfare, reduce tensions, and strengthen regional security. These efforts led to intensive consultations among the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore, culminating in the Joint Declaration.
On August 8, 1967, the meeting in Bangkok resulted in the ASEAN Declaration, a common agreement to strengthen active cooperation in economic, social, technical, scientific and administrative fields of mutual interest. Established on that date, ASEAN is a regional organization limited to the countries of Southeast Asia and does not extend membership to countries outside the region.
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Just a Declaration, No Special Agreement
In the formation of ASEAN, the five founding countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand—held a meeting in Bangkok in 1967 and decided to establish ASEAN through a Declaration, without an special agreement or a ratification process.
Therefore, multilateral international approval was not entirely necessary. As a result, at the internal level, interactions among the regional countries based on the Bangkok Declaration were merely political statements and did not legally bind the rights and obligations of member states or the organization itself.
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Limitations of ASEAN
Initially based only on a declaration, ASEAN was a loose organization without international legal status, which hampered its ability to take legal action and engage in international agreements. There were no strict provisions for enforcing internal obligations, making member states' commitments weak.
Compared to other regional organizations like the European Union, ASEAN's international integrity and legal personality were relatively weak. For example, in the Sipadan and Ligitan dispute, Indonesia and Malaysia chose the International Court of Justice over ASEAN's High Council, which had never been used. Additionally, ASEAN has been criticized for its inadequate response to human rights violations in Myanmar, due to its strict non-intervention principle and the lack of a regional human rights court.
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Drafting and Implementation of the ASEAN Charter
To address these issues, ASEAN developed the ASEAN Charter following a mandate from the Vientiane Action Programs (VAP). The process began in 2006 with the Kuala Lumpur Declaration at the 11th ASEAN Summit and continued with the formation of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), which was tasked with drafting recommendations for the Charter.
Groups with one representative from each country, including Ali Alatas from Indonesia, developed a proposal known as the Alatas Paper. At the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu, the leaders then established the High-Level Task Force (HLTF) to draft the Charter based on the EPG’s recommendations.
The ASEAN Charter was finally signed at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore on November 20, 2007. The Charter, which consists of a Preamble, 13 Chapters, 55 Articles, and annexes, reaffirms ASEAN's values and principles.
It came into effect on December 15, 2008, thirty days after ratification by all member states, transforming ASEAN into a rule-based organization with legal personality, as stipulated in Article 3 of the Charter.
Source: Farida, Elfia. “Efektivitas ASEAN (ASEAN Charter) Bagi ASEAN Sebagai Organisasi Internasional.” QISTIE, vol. 3, no. 3, 2 Jan. 2009, https://doi.org/10.31942/jqi.v3i3.577.
