ABSTRACT
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) emerged out of the regional contentions and security concerns among ASEAN leaders. These tensions are partly a legacy of colonization and de-colonization that had left the new nations with territorial disputes and struggles for international recognition, security and sovereignty. Prior to the formation of ASEAN in 1967, a number unsuccessful attempts were made to construct a regional organization including the 1954 Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO), and the 1966 Asian Pacific Council (ASPAC). These attempts failed, mainly because they were initiated by external powers. The other two attempts are the 1961 Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), which consisted of Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, and Maphilindo that was established in August 1963, comprising Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Both organizations were committed to economic and cultural cooperation through increased consultation by regular foreign ministers’ conferences and national secretariats in the member countries’ respective ministries of foreign affairs (Antolik, 1990). Seen as a Cold War cluster against communist threats, ASA was perceived as standing at odds with other countries that were in pursuit of socialist or neutralist ideas such as Indonesia. As a consequence, the organization did not provide sufficient basis for a pursuance of common policy and thus was less than attractive, despite an advocacy of informal and minimal degree of institutionalization and an emphasis on sovereignty (Haacke, 2003).
