The role of bloggers in the ASEAN Community
Aris Heru Utomo, Beijing | Thu, 11/17/2011 8:24 AM
Since its establishment in 1967, plenty of efforts have been made to strengthen cooperation within ASEAN, as well as to reach the goal of the ASEAN Community by 2015.
As stated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) at the opening of the 44th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Bali in July, ASEAN is no longer just walking at a leisurely pace. ASEAN is beginning to run, and run faster. ASEAN should run faster because the region and the world are running even faster.
To run and to realize an ASEAN Community by 2015, many things have been done intensively to implement the rules and regulations of the ASEAN Charter, which was ratified by all ASEAN member states in December 2008.
Since the ASEAN Charter comprises only basic provisions, in 13 chapters and 55 articles, it is necessary to develop those basic provisions into rules and policies to be implemented. Here, there are battles of ideas among all parties concerned over the interpretation of the Charter’s basic provisions and its delivery to the people.