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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