Connectivity the next step in Asean community building

       THE 15th Asean Summit and related summits will be held from October 23-25 at Cha-am near Hua Hin. This summit will be a crucial milestone for the regional grouping.
       Community building is the essential task for Asean to become a successful regional body. The challenges are huge but the reward is sustainable peace and increased prosperity in the region.
       Highlights of the summit will include the inauguration of the Asean Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights, the adoption of a declaration on climate change to reaffirm the Asean position in the negotiation under the UN Frameworks Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as well as the adoption of a declaration on education cooperation to achieve an Asean Community.
       During last Asean meeting, Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that when the member countries of Asean become a single economic bloc in 2015, the Asean Community should be "a community of action, connectivity and peoples".
       Asean must not fail in this goal. Actually there is no alternative to Asean as a leading political organisation. Political regionalisation is a worldwide trend that forces regions to overcome historical, religious or cultural differences.
       If Southeast Asia wants to play a role on the world stage, its individual nations have to move closer together. Developments within Asean - the increased cooperation, the further strengthening of its institutions - over recent years have been remarkable. However, Asean is running the risk that this increased cooperation among the member states is not taking the very bases of the organisation - its people - along with it.
       Many Southeast Asian countries not only lack the ability to communicate the challenges and benefits of Asean to their people, they also often see the development of a strong regional body as a threat to their own political power and their position in the region. This makes it easy for them to abuse Asean for internal political gain. Thailand is no exception.
       To emphasise the benefits of Asean to the grouping's people is essential for successful regional integration. Other regional organisations face the same problems. The European Union was developed to secure peace after decades of war on the European continent. The EU started slowly, with bilateral contacts between France and Germany, and moved on to the first inauguration within Europe with seven member states signing the first European contract. The focus was on initially on economic cooperation.
       Today, the EU has 27 members, no borders, and a common currency; even a single design for the license plates of cars has been adopted throughout the bloc. For a lot of Europeans, these smaller symbols of being part of a union are maybe more important than the high-level meetings of politicians.
       The only way to connect the people of Southeast Asia is by harmonising travel, and liberalising trade and investment in the region. There is also a need to make people feel Asean.
       Harmonised rules and legal certainty and security will unavoidably lead to increased investment. Exchange of goods and services, and contact between people of the member nations will lead to a better understanding of different cultural backgrounds. At the same time, an increased effort in the region's educational systems is crucial for the long-term success of the organisation. Also, the various nationalistic trends in some countries must be overcome.
       People must feel the benefits of Asean in their daily lives. Asean must strive to be a "community of action" that must be able to act decisively and in a timely manner to address both internal and external threats, and meet the challenges of its member states and peoples.
       Further, the Asean Community should become a "community of people" where all peoples of the region have equitable access to human development opportunities.
       Asean is in the process of creating dispute settlement mechanisms, developing new organs including a Committee of Permanent Representatives, and setting in motion various Community Councils that will drive its community-building forward under the Cha-am Hua Hin Roadmap for an Asean Community.
       Thailand will pass on its chairmanship of Asean to Vietnam in December. Until then, a lot of time and effort must be invested to bring the Thai chairmanship to a successful end.
       Alexander Mohr was a lecturer in international relations at the French university Institut d'ษtudes Politiques de Paris (SciencesPo) and is partner for international relations at the European government relations firm Alber & Geiger in Brussels.