ABSTRACT
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. In 1992, the ASEAN Heads of State and Government declared that ASEAN should intensify its external dialogues in political and security matters as a means of building cooperative ties with States in the Asia-Pacific region. Two years later, the ASEAN Regional Forum or ARF was established. The ARF aims to promote confidence building, preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution in the region. The ASEAN Security Community is envisaged to bring ASEAN's political and security cooperation to a higher plane to ensure that countries in the region live at peace with one another and with the world at large in a just, democratic and harmonious environment. Through political dialogue and confidence building, no tension has escalated into armed confrontation among ASEAN Member States since its establishment.
