Future Aspects of Cambodia in the ASEAN Community

H.E. Ambassador Agus Tarmidzi explains the idea to cope and adapt to developments.  This will allow ASEAN to become a stronger region in order to benefit all the people in South-East Asia.

August 7, 2009:  As part of the Dr. Handa Eminent Lecture Series, H.E. Ambassador Agus Tarmidzi, Senior Special Advisor, Department of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Indonesia and H.E. Ngurah Swajaya made a visit to Cambodia to speak about the future developments in the ASEAN community. They both talked about “Challenges and Prospects for Building the ASEAN Community by 2015.”. H.E. Tarmidzi has been involved in the ASEAN cooperation since the early 1990’s. He witnessed the development of ASEAN over the years and he has valuable insights on how to move towards building close relationships among member states in the ASEAN community. Currently there are ten member states in ASEAN. Cambodia has been a member since April 1999.

As Senior Special Advisor to Indonesia, H.E. Ambassador Agus Tarmidzi is very open to establishing cooperation between Cambodia and Indonesia. H.E. Ngurah Sawjaya wanted students to know how crucial it is to promote people to people communication. For new member states such as Cambodia, it is vital to understand how ASEAN functions. 

However, moving towards building an ASEAN community is very challenging. As H.E. Tarmidzi stated, “we should do some rethinking, the world today is different compared to 42 years ago.” 

H.E. Tarmidzi continued by saying “This is the last chance for South-East Asia to reach some kind of unity.” To reach that goal, ASEAN is going to aim its policy towards three pillars; Socio-security, Socio-political and Socio-economic. These three pillars will help enhance the ASEAN community as a whole without members losing their own personality.  For Cambodia it means that by strengthening organizations and institutions it will catch up with its fellow members of ASEAN.

The main challenges in creating an ASEAN community, as perceived by the speakers, were creating a cohesive decision making process, keeping peace and stability in the region, and finding ways to minimize the effects of the economic downturn. 

Even though many challenges and prospects may arise before 2015, the date is a benchmark for ASEAN to achieve its goal of realizing an ASEAN Community. If Cambodia can face the challenges it meets, it too will increase its chances on becoming a strong economic player in the region.