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ASEAN and the management of diversity
5th August 1997
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Interesting comments following our own observations
that ASEAN faces challenges in their recent transition from a cozy club
to a more powerful yet more diverse grouping came this week from several
sources.
Michael Leifer from the London School of Economics and Political Science told the Far Eastern Economic Review that "An ASEAN 10 is going to be far more discordant. It's the downside of the vision.." The Australian Financial Review quotes Dick Woolcott, former head of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs as saying "ASEAN has traditionally operated on the principle of consensus but now, especially because of Vietnam, it's going to be more difficult to get consensus. They may start to move away from consensus and towards a majority rule." Woolcott also suggested a further reason for the haste in ASEAN in increasing their membership.... "Strategically, ASEAN has designed this expansion to provide a solid counterweight to Chinese designs. They wanted to avoid the situation where China could pick off Burma and Cambodia and make them close associates of China." Our own sources say that consensus among ASEAN members is not as cozy as they make out or as reported by the Singapore and Malaysian mainstream press. Other dailies in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines are more open. But that is hardly surprising. ASEAN consists now of a communist country, one with a disputed government, small rich countries like Singapore and Brunei, large ethnically diverse countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and poor countries such as Laos. The expected entry of Cambodia as soon as the political situation has defused will only make ASEAN more diverse. In fact this very diversity makes Malaysia's dogged insistence that neighboring countries such as Australia and New Zealand should not be admitted seem, if not misguided, at least weaker. Expanding ASEAN further aside, the smart way to progress may well be to acknowledge this diversity, and manage differences openly. The danger is that some original ASEAN members may be too enthusiastic in enforcing a communalism on others that may severely put at risk the solidarity of ASEAN. A good step may be to de-emphasize the concept of "Asian values", which may be useful in the cut and thrust of international politics, but does grave injustice to the rich diverseness of the new ASEAN. With careful management, these differences can just as easily be a strength as a weakness. The management literature already has established a set of ideas and techniques. It's called "Diversity Management".
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© Asia Pacific Management Forum 1997
The views expressed here may not necessarily reflect those of Orient Pacific Century or partners
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