AEC 11: Trade and Economic Development is Social Development

I arrived yesterday afternoon from Kuala Lumpur, after attending half-day of Day 1 (April 22) and half-day of Day 2 (April 23) where I was one of three speakers in a panel workshop on "Will Greater Economic Liberalisation Actually Help the Poor in ASEAN?", sponsored by IDEAS, SEANET and ACSC/APF 2015.  Have to skip the morning plenary of Day 2 because I was not feeling well and had to stay in my hotel room.

This news from interaksyon, I attended that townhall meeting/plenary in the afternoon  of Day 1 at Wisma CMA in KL. The report says,

"Charles Santiago, opposition member of parliament of Malaysia, cited a survey of the ASEAN Secretariat in 2013 which found that three of four people in the region do not have a real understanding of ASEAN. 

"The impression is ASEAN is an elite project, a business ASEAN. The Senior Officials Meetings promote business. Business is the most pressing motivation. The economic pillar is the most advanced pillar. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with that. There’s simply not a fair balance between business ASEAN and social ASEAN,”

Santiago said. U Shwe Maung, an MP in Myanmar representing the Rohingya minotiry, agreed with Santiago and said his constituency does not know about ASEAN. “Their main concern is the open prison where they live. What is important to them is their citizenship rights,” he said.... 

For Charles Chong, Deputy Speaker in Singapore, ASEAN is irrelevant to its people because “many do not really care about ASEAN, as they look to government for economic development....”

Somehow those parliamentarians and legislators are correct. ASEAN, like the UN, OECD, WB, IMF, ADB, ILO, WHO, etc. are organizations or "clubs" of governments, and most ordinary people in any of their member-countries do not find any or all of them that relevant to their daily lives.

But to imply that there were not much gains in the economic situation of the poor in the member-countries as a result of their membership in the ASEAN is wrong. Take this data for instance, which shows how Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam (CLMV) were able to expand their economies by 5-6x in just a span of two decades, largely because they have liberalized their economies to their neighbors in the region, and to other countries.

Another article from interaksyon, today. I think it's the plenary meeting yesterday morning. I was on my way, or I was already at the KL international airport that time. The report says,

"Regional integration has potential for good, but it has to be fair and its benefits must be experienced by the people. A Social ASEAN is one where people matter where the fruits of integration are distributed among the people,” said Charles Santiago of MSN. 

 Santiago, who is also an opposition member of parliament from Malaysia and chairman of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, said the interests of the majority remain neglected in the ASEAN integration process...."

I think many of the NGO activist leaders in the APF did not see this chart from some ASEAN government officials' presentations. While the AEC is the central focus of the association, there are also ASEAN socio-cultural community and ASEAN political community.

Ok, I am not exactly a great fan of the ASEAN and its member-governments. But the efforts of those governments to liberalize trade and  investments among member economies should be recognized too.  Many NGO leaders just specialize on  negativism and insisting that only their version of what is "development" is the correct one.
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See also:
AEC 7: AAA Law's Forum on Post-2015 ASEAN Integration, April 09, 2015 
AEC 8: Trade, Competition and Innovation in the ASEAN, April 13, 2015 
AEC 9: SEANET Forum on Economic Liberalization, Kuala Lumpur, April 23, April 19, 2015 
AEC 10: Indigenous Rights, Labor and Human Rights in the ASEAN, April 21, 2015

AEC 6: The ACSC/ASEAN People's Forum (APF) 2015

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold its annual and 26th Summit this coming April 24-27, 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Presidents and Prime Ministers of the 10-member countries will go there for their official  signing of agreements and ceremonial group photos. The heads of six observer countries in the ASEAN + 6, namely Japan, China, S. Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, also go there, usually on the last day of the summit.

Before the ASEAN Summit, there is also a big gathering  of leaders of different NGOs in  the region, the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC) and ASEAN People's Forum (APF), April 22-24, 2015.

Our partner think tank in KL, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), is the organizing members of ACSC/APF 2015. Somehow it is the odd-man-out in the room because ACSC is anti-market, anti-liberalization and pro-forced equality coalition. In its CSO Statement, it declares under 1. Preamble:

1.3 The failure of ASEAN to meaningfully address the people’s issues is deeply rooted in the organisation’s continued adherence to a neo-liberal model that prioritizes corporate interests and elite groups, including state-owned enterprises, over the interests of the people. Our engagement with the ASEAN process is therefore anchored on a critique and rejection of deregulation, privatisation, government and corporate-led trade and investment policies that breed greater inequalities, accelerate marginalization and exploitation, and inhibit peace, democracy, development, and social progress in the region.

And under 2, Regional Priorities,

2.1.1 ASEAN’s development model for regional integration, and the unequal trade and investment agreements negotiated and agreed to by member states fail to guarantee redistributive, economic, gender, social and environmental justice, or accountability. They result in further inequality, lack of social protection, denial of basic information and communications infrastructure, environmental degradation, adverse impacts of climate change, and the systematic dispossession of the people’s access to land, water, safe and nutritious food, and other resources. Large-scale mining and other extractive projects; the expansion of corporate agriculture (including promotion of genetically modified organisms); corporate and commercial fisheries; and intensified aquaculture continue to violate rights of local communities in ASEAN.

I wanted to attend the ACSC and hope to engage in face to face discussion and civil debates some leaders and participants. They announced that they will give travel scholarships to 50 non-Malaysian NGO leaders in the region. Knowing the ideological leaning of the conference leaders, I still applied for the scholarship, no  harm in trying. I was not lucky enough to be selected. Fine, I assume that they prioritized their fellow anti-market, anti-liberalization CSO buddies in the region.

In the application form, aside from the usual basic info to fill up, they asked three questions:

1. Please provide a description of your or your organization’s interest and work on Southeast Asia and ASEAN (not more than 500 words). 

2. Please explain why it is important for you to participate the ACSC/APF 2015 (not more than 500 words). 

3. Please explain what you will do to share what you have learned at the ACSC/APF 2015 to civil society after you return to your country (not more than 200 words).

I am posting my answer to #1, written and submitted last March 25:

First, I do some rounds of university talks as a guest lecturer about the region. In December 2014, I spoke at De La Salle University (DLSU) Manila on Trade, David Ricardo, CPE, FPE and Consumer Surplus; January 2015 at Ateneo de Manila University (AdeMU) on ASEAN and the challenge of unilateral trade liberalization. This March, I spoke at the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) on ASEAN taxes and Philippine fiscal incentives. 

Second, some organizations invite me to do a summary of important fora. Last February 2015, I prepared a synthesis of discussion on ASEAN Integration Forum organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Muntinlupa Chapter.

Third, I write for a Jakarta-based new monthly magazine, ASEAN Voices. My article for January 2015 issue was about Philippine multinational companies in the ASEAN.

Fourth, I also write for one of the biggest online publications in Manila, interaksyon.com, under the column, “Fat-Free Economics.” My last article was about 2014’s biggest global economic news in 10 charts.

Fifth, a monthly magazine in Kathmandu, Nepal, Business 360, publishes my opinion articles. Among my papers there last year was Trade and Development in Asia.

Sixth, I am a member of the Philippine Economic  Society (PES) and I discuss with fellow economists some regional and global issues. I wrote about one paper presented at the PES conference last year,  on ASEAN-China trade and investment relations.

Seventh, some academic friends in other universities invite me for future classroom talks. Like the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City and University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP) here in Manila, aside from the three Manila universities (DLSU, AdeMU, UP) that I  mentioned above.

All the papers that I wrote and mentioned are for free market, free trade, limited government advocacy. I am sure the organizers did not like them, 180 degrees opposed to their "CSO Statement". Not  feeling bad that I was not selected.

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is about integration + coordination + competition of the 10 member-countries in various industries. Greater and freer mobility of commodities and people/services among the 10 countries is the cornerstone of the AEC. ACSC/APF leaders want to oppose this. If I have the chance to see and meet them in future ACSC/APF, say in Manila, I will debate them. In a civilized, no ad hominem way of discussion and debate, of course.
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See also:
Free Trade 37: Multiple Concerns and Regulations in the ASEAN, September 11, 2014
Free Trade 42: ASEAN Trade and Unilateral Liberalization Challenge, January 23, 2015 
AEC 3: PCCI Muntinlupa Forum on ASEAN Integration, February 22, 2015 
AEC 4: Malaysia's MITI Presentation, March 19, 2015 
AEC 5: Aviation, Telecom, Mobile Money and Retail in the ASEAN, March 23, 2015