Europe has the European Union, and Asia has ASEAN. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) until the recent years has only served as a platform for member nations to discuss diplomatic and foreign policy, but the push for greater cooperation for prosperity and growth has led the 10 countries towards integration: the ASEAN Community. With one year ahead of the proposed launch, are ASEAN nations ready? What are the obstacles at hand and in what direction is it going? Can the ASEAN serve as the model for greater integration in Asia?

It was back in 1967 when the five countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand established the ASEAN through the Bangkok Declaration, where the leaders of the five nations realized that not only did the countries share geographical, historical and cultural ties, but increasingly common challenges. This five-member organization soon expanded to include the countries such as Brunei Darussalam in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999 to finally round-up the current 10 member states of the organization.

Through the years, skepticism on the role of the organization and its survival arose, not to mention the low commitment of the nations towards achieving the ideals of the Bangkok Declaration. In the 30^th anniversary of the ASEAN in 1997, the ASEAN Vision 2020 was agreed on by the ten countries pushing for more cooperation for stability and prosperity in the region. In 2003, this was transformed into the organization of the ASEAN Community embodied in the Bali Concord II, where three pillars of the integration were outlined: Political-Security Community, Economic Community, and Socio-cultural Community. In the 12^th ASEAN Summit in 2007, the leaders have decided to accelerate the regional integration by 2015, 5 years earlier than originally set out.

The three pillars of the ASEAN Community are cognizant of the common challenges and the need to cooperate in order to advance sustainable development in the region. The ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC), while not interfering with internal affairs, takes head-on responsibility to find a peaceful resolution to any present or future regional issues. On the other hand, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) intends to transform the region into a single market and production base. The AEC is not a customs union like EU but aims to increase intra-regional trade, boost confidence of local investors in regional production, liberalize trade, and to cut costs of doing business in the region. The third pillar, the ASEAN Socio-cultural Community (ASCC) has the role of strengthening the ASEAN identity through various means such as improving human mobility and alignment of school curricula.

The ASEAN Community highlights the important advantages of the region: namely, a huge and young market of 600 million population; abundance of natural resources and diverse exports; robust and unprecedented growth resulted from open trade policies; and strategic location between India, China-Japan-Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

However, some point out that the critical disadvantages of the region may undermine the potential of the ASEAN Community. The disadvantages include development gaps between member states; slow-decision making and implementation process; weak and small ASEAN Secretariat in terms of size and resources; intra-regional and external disputes and conflicts; rise of China and India overshadowing ASEAN’s rise; and the lack of other effective regional cooperation in areas like climate change.

Overriding the presence of such obstacles, the ASEAN Community is slated for 2015. What do the citizens of ASEAN think about it? Resident ASEAN students from the KDI School spoke about the ASEAN Community, the realities of the region, and the common future that the integration dreams.

Somvixay Chanthavong (2013 MDP, Lao PDR)
Integration faces a challenge with the development gap present between the member countries. For Lao PDR, educational development is a major concern. The government needs to put more effort in producing local labors with multi-skills in order to get ready for labor movement across the ASEAN nations.

Nuchnapa Laohabutr (2014 MPP, Thailand)
I believe that Thai people are welcoming the launch of AEC. Direct impact to Thailand would not be much since we have already opened up the market, but we expect to grow in the logistics and tourism sectors as Thailand is located at the heart of the region.

Nguyen Anh Tu (2014 MPP, Vietnam)
I strongly believe that ASEAN Community would be the biggest step to realizing a stable and wealthy region. The economies and political system of many ASEAN countries are highly dependent on China. The most effective strategy to deal with potential conflicts is to be united and make collective efforts for the region.

Somvilay Chanthavong (2014 MDP, Lao PDR)
Since establishing one ASEAN Identity is a significant part of integration, the concept of ASEAN should be introduced and taught in the same way as the national identity. If ASEAN citizens are able to understand and share the common vision and identity, I believe that the ASEAN Community is going to be a reality in the near future.

Sophea Sem (2014 MPP, Cambodia)
Cambodia is preparing its physical and mental capacity toward the Community. Although Cambodia is not completely ready for this integration, I would like to see Cambodia join in without delay. I hope Cambodia will continue to overcome its weaknesses while learning from other members.

Novi Paramita Dewi (2013 MDP, Indonesia)
In reality, the ASEAN Community is not well known to the general public. What’s important is not to set agenda but to mobilize the community to take actions; and when many people benefit from the actions, the idea of the ASEAN Community shall be voluntarily recognized by more and more people.

By Rigoberto Banta Jr. (2014 MPP, Philippines)