ASEAN way and new way to thinking or decline

Abstract

The idea of ASEAN is not new. There have been several “pre ASEAN” organizations before the creation of ASEAN. First was the creation of The Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) in July 1961. It included Thailand, Malaya (renamed Malaysia two years later) and the Philippines. Later,in 1963, it incorporated Singapore and the British Borneo territories and became operative in September 1963. The approaches to co-operation immediately divided the development of the ASA. The Philippines and Malaya sought to create a European Economic Community-style organization, with Thailand seeing it as an association with a looser structure, and Indonesia not wishing to join the organization. Indonesia found the political stance of the organization too politically aligned to the west. In addition, Indonesia felt that they didn‟t have a role in creating the ASA, so a new organization was needed (Lee, 2006).