The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) yesterday reached a landmark decision with the signing of the historic Kuala Lumpur declaration to establish the Asean Community (AC).
Ten leaders joined the signing ceremony during the 27th Asean Summit in Malaysia, ahead of the community's formal launch on Dec 31.
Under the declaration, Asean will move the three pillars that make up the community -- Asean political-security community (APSC), Asean economic community (AEC) and Asean socio-cultural community (ASCC) -- to a new chapter of regional integration under the Asean Community Vision 2025 document.
Guidelines for maintaining regional peace and security, boosting economic growth and encouraging the well-being of people are addressed in the three pillars.
Out of the three, the AEC has made the most progress in building a single market, product base and building a favourable atmosphere for economic integration, according to former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was in power when Thailand chaired the Asean summit in 2009.
Mr Abhisit told the Bangkok Post the other two communities are not far behind the AEC, but what Asean needs is "unity" among governments and people in preparation for upcoming challenges.
He explained that Asean is now starting to gain attention from powerful countries, including China and the United States, so the bloc has to build unity and balance relations.
Engagement with countries outside Asean will change once the bloc transforms into the community, Mr Abhisit said, because Asean will act as "one" and the countries must stand together.
"I have yet to see real unity in Asean," Mr Abhisit said.
Members still have differences involving political systems and values, he added. A key feature of the change is freer movement of labour across borders, which will expose local workers to competitive pressure and could pose some early teething problems.
Mr Abhisit said some issues are addressed separately in the group, even though they can be solved together. The haze in Indonesia is a problem that Asean can deal with together, he said.
"Aside from different political administrations, we should set the same standards and values in some issues such as human rights or the environment," Mr Abhisit said.
The European Union (EU) is a good model for Asean to follow as EU members tend to be united, especially during crises.
"When Greece faced its financial crisis, you could see helping hands from other EU members, which is unity.
"Although Britain is still deciding whether it will stay [in the EU], the EU is fine," the former prime minister said.
He also said Asean should not allow any issue or interference to cause problems within the community.
"One example is the South China Sea dispute which could drag members away from the community's principles," he said, adding some Asean members still have different stances on the row, although there are four claimants in Asean.
A source from the summit backed Mr Abhisit, saying Asean is still struggling to find common ground on the issue, even though a formal consultation agreed to start negotiations with China, which is building artificial islands in the disputed sea.
"Some Asean members still have different ideas and it delays the process," the source said.
The Thai ambassador to Japan, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, who is part of the High-Level Task Force on Asean Vision 2025, said the bloc should be more efficient when it turns into the AC, especially when it comes to dealing with incidents or rapid developments.
"Finding a consensus on specific issues is taking time in Asean these days, so Thailand proposes using the Troika model for a short period to help address other problems," Mr Sihasak said.
The Asean Troika is a community body made up of foreign ministers of the previous, present and future chair countries of the group.
It deals with specific issues, particularly political problems and conflicts.
Mr Sihasak, however, noted Asean centrality is the key factor to maintaining balance with countries outside the bloc and will also keep Asean moving forward.
"Being the integrated community is our goal, Asean has to move together and leave no one behind.
"Thailand will play a key role and contribute to the community as much as we can," Mr Sihasak said.