AJKC Book Review

Kishore Mahbubani and Jeffery Sng THE ASEAN MIRACLE: A CATALYST FOR PEACE

Hungarian edition

Publisher: Antall József Knowledge Centre Release date: September 2020 AJKC Price: 4,500 Ft 3,150 Ft

Realising that political and economic cooperation would bring greater stability and prosperity to Southeast Asia, representatives of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand signed the Bangkok Declaration in 1967, forming the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Fifty-three years and five additional member states later, the organisation is regarded as one of the world’s most successful collaborations besides the EU.

In their book, Kishore Mahbubani and Jeffery Sng explain how this partnership made Southeast Asia a more peaceful and prosperous region and how it benefitted the ten participating countries. They argue that ASEAN should serve as a model for other regions of the world, especially as the United States and China are engaging in a strategic rivalry while the political and economic pivot might have been shifting to Asia. In this context, the Southeast Asian region and ASEAN will have an undeniably powerful role in shaping our global systems.

Mahbubani and Sng’s book presents the history, development, and principles of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, its relations with global and regional powers (the US, China, the EU, Japan, and India), and the current situation of its member states. The authors point out that handling relations with major powers have been both ASEAN’s strengths and shortcomings, and the member states often find themselves between the hammer and the anvil of geopolitics. The book also demonstrates how ASEAN’s “ecosystem of peace” was created and takes a look at the factors that were fundamental to the process, such as the fear of communism, the role of strong leaders, geopolitical luck, market-oriented policies, and the ASEAN-based regional networks. The authors provide a comprehensive overview of ASEAN as an intergovernmental regional organisation and analyse the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses, making recommendations for its future development. The book explains how the exceptional diversity of Southeast Asia came about through introducing the four big waves of cultural influence (that is India, China, the Islam, and the West) that continue to shape the societies of the region even today. Although issues prevailing in the member states such as human rights abuses or stalled democratisation processes are not thoroughly covered, the authors provide an interesting and detailed account of the great experiment of countries with diverse cultures, religions, languages, and ethnic backgrounds to work together against all odds and for the benefit of all.

Kishore Mahbubani is a Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore (NUS) and was a Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS from 2004 to 2017 and a Singaporean diplomat. Jeffery Sng is a former Singaporean diplomat.