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View all search resultsRenewing ASEAN’s resilience amid growing indifference
When confronted with external shocks, will ASEAN members continue to support one another, or will national interests gradually overshadow regional solidarity?
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Final stage: Workers arrange microphones on the stage before the start of the opening ceremony during the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu, central Philippines, on May 8, 2026. (AFP/Pool/Aaron Favila)
O
ne morning mid last month, the ferry from Landeyjahöfn to the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar) in Iceland was packed with travelers. They all shared a single objective: to watch puffins, native birds of the North, returning to their pristine sanctuary.
For eight months each year in the wintertime, these seabirds ride the North Atlantic Ocean waves to follow schools of fish into deeper waters. Only in the summer do they return to breed before venturing back to sea once again.
Their annual migration tells a remarkable story of perseverance, survival and resilience.
Watching them, I was reminded of a decade’s old paradigm that once guided ASEAN: the idea that national resilience forms the foundation of regional resilience.
Developed under president Soeharto’s government in the 1970s, this paradigm argued that Southeast Asia would become stronger if each ASEAN member is successful in strengthening itself politically, economically, socially, as well as in the security and defense spheres.
Guided by this philosophy, ASEAN members have made substantial achievements in their national development efforts over the past five decades.
Today, Singapore serves as a regional hub in services and finance, whereas Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand are known for their industrial strength in manufacturing.
