ASEAN Jakarta Forum: Empowering Communities for Greater Impact
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ASEAN Focuses on Empowering its Citizens for Greater Regional Impact
A container is unloaded from a ship onto a truck at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia, Feb 12, 2025. [Photo/Agencies]
A recent forum in Jakarta highlighted the need for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to prioritize its citizens, fostering a stronger sense of regional identity and improving lives across the bloc.
ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim hourn stressed that the organization’s success is directly tied to the security and prosperity of its people. He stated that citizens must be empowered to “dynamically shape their own futures.”
Key Challenges & Proposed solutions
Despite 58 years of existence and the establishment of the ASEAN Charter in 2005 – which began with the phrase “We, the people” – many citizens still feel disconnected from the organization. Speakers at the ASEAN for the Peoples conference 2025 identified challenges in advancing people-to-people connectivity.
- Disconnect from Citizens: Many feel ASEAN remains distant and tough to engage with.
- Limited Cross-Cultural Understanding: A need for increased mutual understanding between member states.
- Need for Consistent Effort: Requires sustained “political will, resources, and consistency.”
Several solutions were proposed:
- Investment in Education: Piti Srisangnam, Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation, advocated for increased investment in cross-cultural education. The ASEAN Foundation is already running programs connecting young people, with support from Huawei.
- “ground-up” Approach: dino Patti Djalal, founder of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI), emphasized the importance of a “ground-up” approach to complement existing top-down strategies.
- CSO Database: A plan to create a comprehensive database of ASEAN Civil society Organizations (CSOs) to facilitate networking and collaboration.
ASEAN member States & CSO Numbers
| Contry | approximate Number of CSOs |
|---|---|
| Indonesia | 600,000 |
| Philippines | 310,000 |
| Malaysia | 270,000 |
| Vietnam | 70,000 |
ASEAN