JAS (Journal of ASEAN Studies)

Southeast Asian Regionalism: An Examination of the Progress and Priorities of ASEAN through its Joint Communiqués

Joseph Ching Velasco — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In pursuit of ASEAN’s objective to formalize the ASEAN Community, this article critically examines the community-building progress and the organization’s key priorities. The research is guided by two research problems. First, what are the subjects discussed in each ASEAN community pillar? Second, how are the key issues addressed in relation to each ASEAN community pillar? A thematic analysis of the joint communiqués published by ASEAN from 2004-2019 was conducted to respond to these questions. More specifically, each communiqué was tagged and analyzed, and themes were subsequently derived, enabling a comprehensive examination of each area of the ASEAN community. The article contributes significant insights into the evolving landscape of ASEAN’s cooperation and integration. The findings elucidate on the shifting dynamics and complexities that shape ASEAN’s political-security, economic, and socio-cultural communities, shedding light on the organization’s changing priorities and challenges. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) prioritizes key growth areas, such as tourism, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and energy. For the ASEAN political-security, its focus is on ascertaining continued peace in the region as exemplified by collaboration on non-traditional security issues. Meanwhile, the ASEAN socio-cultural community primarily centers on environmental issues, disaster response and management, and the youth. However, the advancement of the ASEAN community has faced setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 Myanmar coup d’état. Overall, the joint communiqués manifests the different initiatives that ASEAN has taken to deepen integration and a sense of community.

Connecting Soft Power, Message Framing, and Political Actors’ Involvement in Online Media: The Case of ASEAN

Anak Agung Mia Intentilia, Ronald L. Holzhacker — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The research aims to examine media message framing in the selected Southeast Asia countries (Indonesia and the Philippines) surrounding events focusing on ASEAN’s 50th anniversary in 2017. The research explores the relations between media framing and ASEAN’s soft power, taking an interdisciplinary research approach combining political communication studies and international relations. The concept of soft power is divided into (a) strategic narrative and message framing and (b) state and non-state actors’ involvement in the communication process. The research uses qualitative content analysis and utilizes Atlas.ti software to conduct the coding process of online news items as the primary data. The main findings are as follows. First, ASEAN is portrayed with a rather positive tone on economic and socio-cultural issues. Second, ASEAN is portrayed on balance in a negative tone on political-security issues. Third, ASEAN state actors deliver more positive statements about ASEAN. Fourth, ASEAN non-state actors depict more negative statements about ASEAN. This research argues that positive news about economic and socio-cultural issues will likely enhance ASEAN’s soft power. On the other hand, communication with a negative tone about political-security issues may hinder the development of the institution’s soft power. ASEAN’s soft power is influenced by the communication of both state and non-state actors.

China and Regional Security in South and Southeast Asia: A Comparative Analysis of ASEAN and SAARC

Salman Ali Bettani, Zahid Shahab Ahmed — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Asian regionalism is largely represented by economic cooperation at sub-regional levels, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is seen as a prominent example of that. In contrast, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has failed to take off as a platform for economic cooperation and has been hostage to the India-Pakistan rivalry. While ASEAN was established as a forum to address members’ security apprehensions concerning China, SAARC was created to focus on regional cooperation in non-controversial matters like trade and human security. Hence, ASEAN has engaged more deeply with China through various mechanisms. Conversely, SAARC-China relations remain limited because India, the most dominant actor in the organization and the region, views China as a threat to its security and hegemony in South Asia. The research, therefore, aims to answer the following question: How does one region successfully manage security challenges/threats while the other remains ensnared by them? Resolving this puzzle necessitates a nuanced understanding of the role of regionalism in Southeast Asia, emphasizing the significance of comprehending the process and evolution of regionalism in this context. To address this inquiry, the research employs a comparative-historical analysis grounded in archival data encompassing both primary and secondary sources. The investigation reveals that SAARC’s limited engagement with China is a consequence of India’s opposition, a dynamic absent in ASEAN, where Indonesia actively supports cooperation with China. The research underscores the critical importance of unraveling the complexities of regionalism in Southeast Asia to grasp the underlying factors contributing to divergent outcomes in these regional organizations.

What ASEAN Must Learn from Timor-Leste: A Tripartite Analysis on Australian Foreign Policy Related to Timor Sea Treaty 2018

Indra Kusumawardhana, Gustin Saptarani Dewi — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Timor Gap had been a hotspot of territorial dispute between Australia and Timor-Leste. In 2018, Australia finally agreed to settle a permanent maritime boundary in favour of Timor-Leste. Why was Australia willing to sacrifice the border and give a favourable outcome to Timor-Leste? The research examined the importance of the tripartite approach to Foreign Policy analysis to understand why a country may choose seemingly unfavourable options in territorial disputes. The analysis showed how Australian foreign policy was influenced by agency-structure interactions within the international system. The research demonstrated that structural constraints at the international level influenced Australia’s decision, including the South China Sea dispute between ASEAN members and China, previous agreements Australia-Timor-Leste on the management of the Timor Gap, and domestic political dynamics in Australia. The research reveals a relationship between actors’ structural and dispositional dimensions in foreign policy. In the case of Australia, there is a strong link between democratic values and respect for the international rules-based order. Altogether, this situation prompted Australia to continue negotiations with Timor-Leste over the Timor Gap and ultimately to accept an agreement for maritime delimitation in Timor-Leste’s favor.

New Thoughts on Formation of Tourism Perceived Images: An Investigation of Guangxi’s Overseas Chinese Students from ASEAN

Tianyang Luo, Ahmad Edwin Mohamed, Noor Suhaila Yusof — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The research attempts to explain the psychological formation of the image of the sojourn by overseas students who are culturally homogeneous with the sojourn by constructing a comprehensive framework for the composition of the perceived image that contains the new dimension of cultural attachment. In particular, a group of 482 overseas Chinese students from ASEAN with learning experience in Guangxi are the respondents, benefiting from the deep ties between their ethnic and cultural backgrounds with mainland China. It is a strategic consideration based on Guangxi’s international tourism market and image promotion for ASEAN. The research uses quantitative analysis to combine the external influences previously supported in the literature, cultural attachment, and Cognitive-Affective-Conative (CAC) three-dimensional perceived image framework into a more comprehensive model to conduct a hypothetical-deductive study. The results of the quantitative analysis consolidate to a certain extent that the internal constitutive conditions of perceived image are promoted by the CAC model and further test the influence of perceived image under the combined effect of internal and external factors. Meanwhile, it is confirmed that cultural attachment has a strong role in the formation of the perceived image of a specific tourist group. The overall conclusions of the research are rich in academic significance and represent a theoretical expansion of the destination marketing system in response to real-world needs.

Role of Socioeconomic Uncertainty on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Inflows and Economic Growth in ASEAN

Andi Tiara Putri Marasanti, Kiki Verico — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The interconnectedness begins with active trade and foreign investment flowing to the host country, making the economies in the world integrated into one another. Unfortunately, the rise of interconnectedness has sky-rocketed uncertainty. Economists then build the considered socioeconomic index, namely the World Uncertainty Index (WUI). This research aims to determine whether such an index can affect Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inwards and economic growth, especially in ASEAN. We use yearly data of FDI inflows, economic growth, and WUI as a proxy for the global level of domestic uncertainty, inflation, and real effective exchange rate from 2015 to 2019 for each ASEAN member state. We estimate a System Generalized Method of Moments (Sys-GMM) to see the dynamic relationship and the short- and long-run effect of the socioeconomic uncertainty proxies with respect to FDI inflows and economic growth. The results show that the uncertainty index with respect to FDI inflows and growth has been negative and significant. Meanwhile, only FDI inflows sensitively respond to socioeconomic uncertainty in the long run, despite the growth for ASEAN member state.

A Comparative Study Between Organic Agriculture for Vegetables and Fruits Production in Lao PDR and the MRL Approach Used by Other Countries in the Mekong Region

Takeo Makino, Bouthsakone Inthalangsee — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Food safety and the reduction of chemical use in agriculture, in particular, are common issues that reflect consumer concerns in many developing countries. This paper summarizes the history of the development of Organic Agriculture (OA) in Lao PDR, followed by the outline of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Clean Agriculture Development Project (CADP) which supports organic vegetables and fruits production under the clean agriculture policy promoted by the Lao government. Next, the relevant policies of its neighboring countries in the Mekong region (Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia) are also summarized. The policies in these countries focus mainly on reducing chemical residues based on the Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) rather than promoting OA, which has recently been included in their national policies in response to social demands for chemical reduction in agriculture. Finally, the paper compares the approach of Lao PDR and other countries in the Mekong region. As a result, the Lao approach can contribute to improving both food safety and income generation of farmers. In contrast, the MRL-based approach has some limitations due to its insufficient operations under the regulatory systems in these countries. This suggests that the Lao approach should be taken into consideration by other developing economies where small-scale farmers are the majority.

A Conceptual Framework of Mobile Payment System Adoption and Use in Southeast Asia

Andreas Chang, Theresia Gunawan, Ujang Sumarwan — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The research aims to investigate the factors affecting consumers' adoption and use of Mobile Payment Systems (MPS) in Southeast Asia. Extant theoretical models need to be extended to cover the unique features of mobile payment technology. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is conducted to analyse theoretical models utilized to predict the adoption and use of mobile payment. A total of 60 studies about adoption and use of MPS is analysed. The results of the investigations employ the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and Diffusion of Innovation model (IDT). It reveals that there are inconsistencies in determinants of behavioral intention to adopt and use MPS. Among them are performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence. The review also unveils the use of other determinants to predict behavioral intention to adopt and use MPS, such as perceived security, perceived risks, perceived trust, attitude, and financial incentives to lure new users. The researchers propose a conceptual framework for MPS adoption and use that includes four moderators: gender, age, educational level, and income level. The research contributes to the theory and practice by explicating relevant factors predicting behavioral intention to adopt and use mobile payment in the ASEAN region. Moreover, the SLR offers opportunities for future investigations.

Interrelationship Between Macroeconomic Variables With Insurance Premiums and Claims – Lessons For Indonesia & ASEAN

Ibrahim Kholilul Rohman, Rizky Ronaldo, Reza Yamora Siregar — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The insurance sector plays a crucial economic role by helping individuals and businesses manage risks and uncertainties. By transferring some of their risks to insurance companies, individuals and companies can reduce the likelihood of bankruptcy compared to bearing the risks themselves. This role has become increasingly important in recent decades, particularly due to climate change, financial crises, and the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to greater volatility in macroeconomic indicators. Understanding these potential risks is key to ensuring the future sustainability and growth of the insurance sector in both Indonesia and ASEAN. The research objective is to examine the relationship between macroeconomic variables and insurance and claims. Using annual panel data regression analysis, we examine the relationship between macroeconomic indicators and insurance gross premiums in a sample of 63 countries from 2010 to 2019. The macroeconomic indicators used in the model are real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates. The results suggest that macroeconomic variables play a significant role in determining the performance of gross premiums and claims. Lessons learned include that real GDP, inflation, and real interest rates show a positive and significant relationship with gross premiums, while exchange rates show a negative relationship. However, the lasting impact of these macroeconomic variables on gross premiums varies from one to the other. In fact, only two variables, real GDP and inflation, have a lasting impact. The results suggest that market players should provide strong and comprehensive risk management systems to address macroeconomic turbulence. Surveillance and monitoring macroeconomic indicators are essential, especially in a macro-dependent sector.

Me Too as Transnational Advocacy Networks: The Case of Anti-Sexual Violence Movement in Indonesia

Karina Utami Dewi, Hangga Fathana, Masitoh Nur Rohma — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The research discusses the anti-sexual movement in Indonesia as a part of the global movement of Me Too and transnational advocacy networks. It aims to answer how the transnational advocacy movement explains the movement against sexual violence in Indonesia. The argument of the research is offered in three parts. First, it argues that the anti-sexual violence movement in Indonesia is a part of transnational advocacy networks. The analysis is provided by explaining the process of boomerang patterns, political entrepreneurs, and international contacts. Second, as part of a transnational advocacy network, the anti-sexual violence movement in Indonesia uses four tactics: information politics, symbolic politics, leverage politics, and accountability politics. The research argues that the anti-sexual violence movement uses all four of the tactics to achieve its goals. Lastly, the third part of the argument discusses the five stages of transnational advocacy networks that the movement has achieved with regard to their goals, and the research argues that it has reached all the stages except for the last one, which is influenced by state behavior.

Assessing Indonesia’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2023

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000