Consider This: ASEAN Summit: Setting the Stage (Part 2)

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As Kuala Lumpur prepares to host world leaders for the ASEAN Summit, all eyes are on how the regional bloc will navigate the confluence of competing powers. Can ASEAN assert its own agenda at this Summit, or is there a risk of it being defined by the interests of others? On this episode of #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Dr Khoo Ying Hooi, Associate Professor at Universiti Malaya’s Department of International and Strategic Studies.

Transcript

00:00Hi, welcome back to Consider This, I'm Melissa Idris.

00:23Let's continue our discussion about the ASEAN Summit as Malaysia closes our term

00:29as chair. How will Malaysia's year at the helm of ASEAN be remembered? And what lessons

00:37will shape the bloc's next chapter? Joining me on the show now is Dr. Ku Ying Hui, who

00:43is Associate Professor at University of Malaya's Department of International and Strategic Studies.

00:49Ying Hui, thank you so much for being back on the show with me today. Let's look at the

00:53year past of Malaysia being chair of ASEAN. How would you assess Malaysia's performance

00:58this past year?

01:01Yeah. Well, I think Malaysia's performance as ASEAN chair this past year has been quite

01:09steady. And I must say it's very pragmatic in dealing with the many issues that come

01:14about, especially in this year, which is rather dramatic, I will say, starting from January

01:21with the Trump's tariffs and many others. But I guess, while it is not necessarily to

01:27be considered as that transformative, except some of the steps that Malaysia has taken, especially

01:33for example, the Cambodia-Thailand border crisis, the Myanmar's issues, the approach that Malaysia

01:41has taken by meeting both the military junta and also the NUG. I guess it has still, ASEAN

01:50at least, through a very difficult geopolitical environment, marked also by the US-China rivalry

01:57that has intensified this year as well, apart from the regional political turbulence that

02:03we see. So I think under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim here, and the tagline that we say inclusivity

02:11and sustainability, right? And I think Malaysia is trying to live up to that tagline itself

02:16by linking ASEAN future to the people-centred growth. But I certainly haven't seen how is

02:24it to make it more people-centred when it comes to the regional organisations. But I guess what

02:30we can see is that Malaysia chairmanship has been more about consolidation of the ASEAN centralities

02:37and so forth by preserving ASEAN's unity and continue to maintain the dialogue across all

02:44the different major power divides, whereby as we see, the 47th ASEAN Summit that is coming

02:50is full of a lot of, I would say, tense. It's very tension, I must say, to see who will be coming

02:59and so forth. Absolutely. I mean, there's so many major world, major powers coming, world leaders from

03:06different countries outside of the region are coming to attend. And I do wonder, with so many

03:12heavyweights attending, do you, are you concerned that ASEAN might be sidelined in terms of narrative

03:19and attention, the agenda might be put to the back burner? Is there a way that we can leverage all of

03:26these powers converging in Kuala Lumpur and maybe advance the ASEAN agenda, ASEAN's own priorities?

03:33Yeah. Well, I certainly see the media is very much hyped about Trump's visiting everywhere. Even if you

03:41type ASEAN Summit, it's all about Trump and it becomes a Trump agenda and not about ASEAN. And I think on that

03:47note, we need to really manage the expectations of the presence of Trump. So I guess, of course, from the ASEAN

03:56side, the presence of major external leaders is an opportunity to actually look at the platforms ASEAN

04:05has and to strengthen its roles at the convening power in the region. And we see and we know that we're

04:12aware that the ASEAN region has become one of the most important regions in the world. And the

04:18participation of the different leaders can also show the ASEAN's continual relevance, especially in the

04:25geopolitical tension that we see. But the key is really that I see for the block for the ASEAN to

04:31really ensure that its own priorities, for instance, in the issues of regional integration, digital

04:38transformations, and remain at the heart of the discussion itself. And I think to do this, there are a

04:45few things that ASEAN needs to conduct. First is to have a clear agenda setting before the meeting so that

04:53all this external power, be it the US, China, South Africa, and so forth. I think we also see a lot of

05:00members coming from the BRICS itself respond to the ASEAN's term, but not the other way around. So that is

05:06very important. And I think second, the tangible deliverables tied to those visits, rather than

05:12just the presence, but rather such as a joint initiatives and so forth. And Anwar Ibrahim today

05:19was saying that among the discussion will be on Gaza, so with Trump. So this will be something that

05:24very interesting on how ASEAN actually going to stir all the dialogues towards their own benefits. And of

05:30course, the third is to follow through the mechanisms after the 47th ASEAN summit.

05:35Right. Okay. We have also an 11th ASEAN member, ASEAN expanding to include Timor Leste as ASEAN's 11th

05:46member. What do you expect the ascension of Timor Leste into ASEAN? What would that mean for the

05:54bloc? What might that change for ASEAN? Yeah, well, Timor Leste's mission is definitely very

06:00much historical after such a long wait, and Malaysia made it happen. And I think on that note,

06:07I will say Malaysia as ASEAN chair has shown its full commitments to ensure Timor Leste is able to

06:14become the 11 member states in this 47th ASEAN summit. And symbolically, of course, it completes the

06:21Southeast Asian family, as I see, reaffirming the ASEAN's identity as a truly regional organisation.

06:28It also restores ASEAN's moral legitimacy by welcoming a young democracy, because before that,

06:35there were so many rumours about, you know, because it's democratic countries. But I don't think that is

06:40a concern at all. And but practically, I think it also requires ASEAN to strengthen the institutional

06:49capacity, especially in supporting less developed members. And I think we still always talk about Laos,

06:56Cambodia, and several other members, and including, of course, the Myanmar. So Timor Leste's economy and

07:02bureaucracy are still developing, as we know. So the integration, the full integration will certainly

07:08takes time. But Malaysia as ASEAN chair has committed to speed it up. So but the inclusion certainly sends

07:16a very important signal that ASEAN is not just a club of middle-income economists,

07:22yeah, but a community that leaves no one behind. Again, go back to the tagline, although there were

07:27several resistance within the process, yeah, the Timor Leste journey this year. So I think the challenge

07:34in the end of the day is really to make the membership meaningful, both for Timor Leste and ASEAN.

07:39Can I ask you, Ying Hui, about Myanmar? Because at the start of the year, when Malaysia took helm

07:47as chair of ASEAN, there was a lot of talk about how this year would be a pivotal year for Myanmar,

07:52that there would be progress made in addressing the Myanmar crisis, given our passion about this topic.

07:59Can I ask you in terms of where we are at with the Myanmar crisis? Right now, there's a question of

08:04whether or not ASEAN should send election observers to Myanmar. What do you believe are the arguments

08:11for and against doing so? Well, I guess this is one of the toughest for ASEAN to make a decision,

08:18because before that, ASEAN has issued a statement to say that it is not the right time for Myanmar

08:23actually to have elections. But Myanmar has go ahead by announcing there will be an election. So I will

08:31think at this point of time, ASEAN should not send election observers to Myanmar under the current

08:36conditions. EU has announced that they will not send election observers as well. So doing so, if

08:44we were to send, it will risk legitimizing a process that is fundamentally unfree and non-inclusive.

08:51Then it will defeat the purpose of what Malaysia especially, as ASEAN has been doing, has been trying

08:58to do. So I guess the the junta's announcement of elections is not a sign of democratic progress as

09:06we see, but rather it is a political strategy to continue to project normalcy while much of the

09:13countries are remain in conflicts and ASEAN was still trying to see what they can actually pursue

09:19into that. So some might argue, you know, sending observers can allow ASEAN to be more engaged and

09:25gather the information. But I think the such an engagement will come at a very high cost. And

09:32we also reminded that when Malaysia as a chair actually met up with the military junta and before

09:40they actually met with the NUG, there were already so much of criticisms about why are we not meeting the

09:47NUG. And I think this is not really a time where ASEAN to be engaged with them in terms of elections

09:54observer. And it has to be a walk the talk when they talk about engagement without legitimisation

10:01because the risk is really the risk to legitimise the military junta.

10:08Well, thank you so much for sharing some of the analysis. It really does put things into perspective

10:13for us about what we can achieve this year and what we have yet to see ASEAN achieve in the coming

10:20years. Thank you so much for being on the show. That was Dr. Koo Yinghui, Associate Professor at

10:24University of Malaya's Department of International and Strategic Studies, wrapping up this episode of

10:30Consider This. I'm Melissa Idris signing off for the evening. Thank you so much for watching and good night.

10:46Thank you so much for watching.

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