ASEAN INTEGRATION: WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH ME? Written by Team YSEALI PH

ASEAN Integration: what does it have to do with me? Almost everyone is talking about the ASEAN integration. Heads of different states go to conferences to talk. They nod and smile as pictures were taken by the media. At times part of their speeches seem to be alien words that are hard to comprehend. Though it is, it doesn’t mean that we can set aside something so real and evident. That’s why we need to do our best to grasp the concept so we can do the necessary preparations to make ourselves fully equipped to welcome the impact. To start, as an ordinary individual, what does it really have to do with me? How does it affect me and the things I care about? Will it change the course of my daily routine? Or will it dictate me what to do and leave me speechless? Because we believe only then can ASEAN integration get our full attention and push us to move. So let us walk you through it: As we all know, ASEAN integration is a very ambitious endeavor for every member country. This is believed to be a mechanism for ASEAN countries to assist each, to collaborate and for mutual assistance for the benefit of regional economy, health, education, safety and security, food security. This has been conceived to encourage the member countries to go along with the standard set to prepare the region to compete globally. It’s either you play as a team or as an individual. The challenge however is the natural calling for every country to take the lead for the realization or to be the best performing ASEAN country. This issue can be a political ambition of a state or a personal ambition of a state leader. However, these skepticisms will neither bring a member country on top nor bring another down because we are already talking about the whole ASEAN countries and not just as a member country itself. Investments in developing countries can be particularly risky due to the unpredictability of the political and economic conditions. The extensive role of the government in the economy means arbitrary decision making can be problematic for business for which maintaining consistency and judging long term economic trends is important. Unique as it is ASEAN countries can be rooted with foreign relation disputes as other countries had previous differences and other territorial disputes. Culture and heritage may sound so entertaining because, people who love to travel may be given the opportunities to travel border to border with less diplomatic hassles, less immigration glitches, and less tariffs however, what we fail to see beyond our microscopic political lenses is the inter-cultural difference that may arise and could lead to political aberrations of member countries. This for one is highly interesting because most ASEAN members do not look into this in consideration but rather will focus on economic benefits and enriching cultural heritage of host counties. However, this is still a very promising change for the whole region. Political structure needs to be improved, so that promises can be delivered and reduce if not totally diminished the imperfections of the system. Likewise, economy leaders need to be more wise and selfless so that even the small and medium enterprises can go with the movement. There’s a lot to cover, so much preparation are to be made but it will be worth it later on. The ASEAN integration does not only affect the states. It affects every individual… including you.