Category: ASEAN

By ASEAN’s mid-August 1997 summit, however, euphoria had been dispelled. Instead its members were confronted with a severe and unexpected economic crisis that had brought with it new challenges to ASEAN’s prestige, the strength of its members, their ties with one another, and their capacity for joint action. ASEAN as an organization had little to… Continue reading Challenges for the Association of Southeast Asean Nations (ASEAN)

The wave of economic regionalism underway since the mid-late 1980s has been joined by the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which formed the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in January 1993 with the aim of creating a Free Trade Area in the region by the (revised) target date of 2003. This… Continue reading ASEAN, AFTA and the “new regionalism”

In theoretical terms the pressures that ASEAN faces today could be depicted as a clash between the old and new regionalism. Old regionalism has been characterized as a product of the cold war, as inward-looking, exclusive and created by governments for specific security or economic purposes. New regionalism, in contrast, is outward-looking, nonexclusive and multidimensional… Continue reading ASEAN’s new challenges

By proposing the Crawford summit during the APEC meetings in Sydney, Bush responded adroitly to the nervous chatter. A summit at his personal residence, although not as grand a backdrop as the White House, is an unmistakable display of support for the region.  Publication: Opinion Asia, 20 Sep 2007.  Author: Sim, Edmund.  Download

The dilemma common to Southeast Asia’s societies today stems from a bias towards nation-state thinking, kept alive by the fact that political discourses are western in nature, and Southeast Asian leaders and intellectuals are largely trained in the west to favour Westphalian ideas. Publication: Opinion Asia, 28 Feb 2008. Author: Ooi, Kee Beng.  Download

The IDR could become the Achilles heel of a relationship often wrecked on the shores of irreconcilable national economic interests.  Much could go wrong if the political players fail manage differences that have come with a baggage of historical irritations in Malaysia-Singapore relations. Publication: Opinion Asia, 01 Jun 2007. Author: Saravanamuttu, Johan.  Download

Malaysia – Thailand Boundary (No. 57 – November 15, 1965) from Bureau of Intelligence and Research, The Department of State, United States of America.  Download

Myanmar this month resurrected plans to acquire a nuclear research reactor from Russia. Atomstroyexport, a manufacturer owned by Russia’s federal atomic agency Rosatom, said it will, if the deal is sealed, install a 10-megawatt light-water reactor, provide 20 percent enriched uranium-235 fuel and train at least 300 technicians.  Download

Using bootstrap causality tests with leveraged adjustments, the link between exchange rates and stock prices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand is investigated for the periods immediately before and during the 1997 Asian crisis. Two variables are found to be significantly linked in the non-crisis period but not at all during the crisis period. The… Continue reading Exchange rates and stock prices interaction during good and bad times: evidence from the ASEAN 4 countries

After thirteen years in existence, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is attracting a review by its founders. Fresh from its ASEAN Charter exercise, this is an opportune time for ASEAN to evaluate and where necessary overhaul the ARF process so that it can better serve the needs of contemporary and future security in the Asia… Continue reading Making the ASEAN Regional Forum More Relevant to Regional Security