RAMOS, WILMARK J.

ASEAN 202
Module 7 Assignment
Word Count: 477

Although the process of ASEAN evolution towards the achievement of a more institutionalized
and regulated mechanism has been slow, steps forward have been taken up in the 90s to build the
ASEAN community. A main reason for the slow (lack) of progress as per Sukma (2014, p.2) was
due to inadequacy in ASEAN’s institutional frameworks; until recently that is was justified within
the context of ASEAN’s main objective of preventing inter-state conflicts through cooperation
rather than constructing a regional community through regional integration. In the first decades of
its establishment, Yeo (2006) stated that ASEAN had the most improvements as a diplomatic
community rather than an economic mechanism due to high competition and protectionism among
the members that made integration and reciprocity of their economies difficult to accomplish.

The establishment of ASEAN Charter is considered as the ultimate achievement of ASEAN

institutionalization, which came into force in December 2008 as a legally binding agreement
among its member states. The Charter serves as a strong basis to accomplish the ASEAN
community by providing legal status and institutional framework to ASEAN. All norms and
values, customary and non-mandatory rules, the complete structure of the association and
main bodies, related entities to ASEAN, the decision making process, dispute settlement,
among others, are all codified in the document. It serves as a significant step towards the
commitment of ASEAN to realize its goal of an ASEAN Community.

Despite the changes introduced by the Charter, ASEAN’s institutionalization remains largely
normative rather than transformative. The long-held practices of the ASEAN Way continue to
overshadow ASEAN’s noble intention to become a rules-based organization (Sukma, 2014 p.12);
it is still a regional organization where progress (or lack of it) in implementing cooperative agenda
is still determined by the political will of member states rather than by an implementing agency of
a supra-national body.

To help ASEAN transform into a rules-based association and accelerate the process of regional
integration, the following were suggested by Sukma, (2014, p.14-17): (1) it needs to change its
decision-making mode and procedures, (2) it needs to establish a mechanism to enforce
compliance, (3) it should start having a discussion on how to balance the preference to retain
national autonomy on the one hand and the need for greater collective institutional role on the
other, (4) it needs to clarify the functions and role of existing ASEAN’s organs and institutions
and the relationship among them, (5) it should change the formula for members’ financial
contribution to the ASEAN Secretariat, (6) it should empower the ASEC to become a real central
mechanism and possess a truly regional perspective that helps the realization of ASEAN’s
collective objectives, (7) it should empower the ASEC to become a real central mechanism and
possess a truly regional perspective that helps the realization of ASEAN’s collective objectives,
and (8) it has to improve and strengthen the dispute-settlement mechanism.
References:

Yeo, Lay Hwee. (2006). Japan, ASEAN, and the Construction of an East Asian Community.
Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs. 28. 259-275.
10.1353/csa.2006.0019. Retrieved from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25798784?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Sukma, Rizal (2014). ASEAN Beyond 2015: The Imperatives for Further Institutional Changes.
ERIA Discussion Paper Series. Retrieved from http://www.eria.org/ERIA-DP-2014-01.pdf