ASEAN Awareness Forum
The ASEAN Foundation (AF) recognizes that promoting the awareness about ASEAN and the challenges and opportunities the region is facing is very crucial and urgent especially in supporting the establishment of the ASEAN Community 2015. In view of this, the ASEAN Foundation with support provided from the Government of the Republic of Korea, funded the project “ASEAN Awareness Survey” in line with one of its missions to promote ASEAN awareness.
A post-survey forum was conducted in ASEAN Foundation on 15 January 2008 to discuss the result of the ASEAN Awareness Survey. This post-survey activity aimed to disseminate the results of the survey to a wider audience. H.E. Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, the new Secretary General of ASEAN, delivered the opening remarks.
The ASEAN Awareness Survey, which was coordinated by Dr. Eric C. Thompson of the National University of Singapore and Dr. Chulanee Thianthai of Chulalongkorn University, aimed to provide a cross-national, intra-ASEAN assessment of the orientation, knowledge and attitudes toward ASEAN among young educated citizens of ASEAN member nations. The survey was conducted among over 2000 students from leading universities across Southeast Asia namely: University Brunei Darussalam, Royal University Phnom Penh, University of Indonesia, National University of Laos, University of Malaya, University of the Philippines, National University of Singapore, Chulalongkorn University, Vietnam National University plus distance education students in Myanmar. It covered questions such as:
- Do youths today consider themselves to be citizens of ASEAN?
- Are the region's youth enthusiastic or skeptical about ASEAN?
- How well do the region's youth know ASEAN and its members?
- What are their concerns for the Association and the region?
The responses from the survey suggest that students across the region demonstrate a relatively high level of knowledge about the Association, generally positive attitudes toward it, and go so far as to consider themselves “citizens” of ASEAN. There are also many points on which students from all or almost all nations tend to agree – the importance of economic cooperation and addressing poverty and development needs, shared orientations shaped by common desires, a desire to know more about the region, and we would suggest most importantly, a perhaps embryonic but nevertheless perceptible sense of ownership and stake in ASEAN as citizens of the region. The survey, however, also indicated some clear differences in knowledge and opinions or even ambivalence on certain matters which deserve further attention and study if ASEAN is to achieve some semblance of a regional entity and identity.
The Forum was attended by representatives from government, academe including the universities at which the survey was conducted, policy makers, youth representatives, civil society, local community and the media. The event was also graced by Tan Sri Dato’ Ajit Singh (former Secretary General of ASEAN), H.E. K. Kesavapany (Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore), Dr. Filemon Uriarte Jr. (incoming Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation) and Mr. Apichai Sunchindah (outgoing AF Executive Director).
The ASEAN Foundation was established at ASEAN’s 30th Anniversary Commemorative Summit held in Kuala Lumpur in December 1997 to help bring about shared prosperity and a sustainable future for the peoples of all ASEAN countries that now include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. It also has the important task of generating greater ASEAN awareness and cooperation. The Foundation is now in its 10th year of operations, having over the past decade strived towards promoting ASEAN socio-cultural cooperation through the implementation of mostly human resources development projects and enhancement of collaboration among the peoples of the region in promoting ASEAN awareness as well as addressing issues related to poverty alleviation and socio-economic disparities in the region.
For downloads:
- Opening Remarks: Dr. Surin Pitsuwan (Secretary General, ASEAN)
- Attitudes and Awareness: Findings of a Ten Nation Survey (Powerpoint Presentation, 333KB)
- Attitudes and Awareness: Findings of a Ten Nation Survey (Summary, PDF file, 415KB)
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