'Like red ants on a log floating downstream each certain it is controlling the direction of the flow." That was the acute observation of a coarse-skinned farmer staring at the TV screen at a small coffee shop in a 100-year-old market in Suphan Buri province in central Thailand when images of the grand Asean meeting in the capital Bangkok were being beamed across the world.
That phrase in some form is familiar to people in rural areas in many parts of the developing world. It must have been with a sense of deja vu that many of them witnessed once again those who seek to represent them swishing through swank hotel lobbies on their way to and from the pomp and circumstance of flag-bedecked conference halls.
One of the stated aims of the meetings was "to leave no one behind" as the region moves inexorably into the future.
Indeed, the chosen Asean theme for this year is "Advancing Partnership for Sustainability". Initially, questions were asked as to what exactly is to be sustained. Some delegates later found clarity and comfort by recalling the last of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), No 17 -- "Global Partnership for Sustainable Development". But then the Asean leaders issued an explanatory "vision statement" in June recalling almost all the Asean documents dating back to its founding days in 1967. Sustainability was later explained in speeches as "sustainability in all dimensions". Well, so much for clarity and focus.
But even with the usual all-encompassing laundry list of items on the agenda, it was not clear whether the well-being and best interests of some Asean citizens, such as the following, were high in the minds of conference-goers:
- Fourteen-year-old Rohingya Madhubon Akter living in a camp in Cox's Bazar who dreamed of becoming a doctor or at least a nurse but had to flee rape and pogrom in Myanmar's Rakhine state. For schooling now, she can only go to a madrassa run by Hefazat-e-Islam of Bangladesh, where she will have to recite Quranic verses. "I no longer have dreams," she bravely told Asia News.
- Somchit Chittapong eked out a living for his family for over 40 years in a northern Thai village in Chiang Rai province on the banks of the Mekong River fishing and plying goods up north to Chinese villages. However, unusually low water levels caused by sudden stoppage of water flow by Chinese dams upstream have killed off fish stocks and made navigation hazardous. His boat is now stranded on the riverbank. Alternating drought and flood nowadays mark for him the passage of time.
- Sak Seam, 69, is chief of Chnok Tru floating village in central Cambodia on a tributary of the Mekong that has existed for hundreds of years. The 1,700 households in his village can no longer survive because of low fish stock and low water levels and for some years now they have been asking for a small parcel of land in order to migrate onto shore.
- Nguyen Tan Son from Quan Nam province, who was captain of a ship attacked by a Chinese vessel in waters off Tri Ton, one of the Paracel islands, beaten with electric guns and batons, his fishing nets cut, equipment destroyed and food thrown into the sea. His was one of 4,000 Vietnamese boats reportedly been rammed or hit by Chinese vessels.
The hazards of climate extremities, ethnonationalism, non-transparent water resource management among riparian states, the rapid rise of regional hegemons are just some issues that transcend boundaries and cut across the neat three pillars -- political-security, economic, and socio-cultural -- that have been carefully constructed by Asean in what is to form the architecture of our one community. However, pigeon-holed categories have made it more difficult to bring up and debate comprehensively or openly all issues even at a series of foreign ministerial meetings. Indeed, the value of the multilateral Asean platform nowadays seems to be the opportunity it provides for discreet bilateral sessions. Apart from colourful images, the impression of the overall conference itself that is left at the end of the day tends to be unfocused and one of going through the motions with recycled documents and default statements.
Host venues have the burden and the duty of carrying out basically three functions: acting as the chef -- providing tasty meals, preferably with some local flavour; as concierge, to see that all needs are taken care of, security, protocols run smoothly; and as conductor, to direct the agenda and chair substantive discussions. The trick is to get the right balance among the three roles. Asean countries are usually regarded as good overall conference hosts and conveners. For the Thai hosts two weeks ago, not repeating the chaos of the disrupted summit 10 years ago was in itself a worthy accomplishment in terms of physical arrangements.
But it has become a truism that there is no normal anywhere these days. The world has moved from climate change to climate crisis. With the demise of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, nuclear doomsday scenarios are returning not only to the traditional European theatre but could now become a possibility in new areas of confrontation in the Indo-Pacific and the South China Sea, even up to the Taiwan straits. New technologies might make limited nuclear strikes seem enticing, trumping the historical restraint of mutually assured destruction.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is facing impotency with its appellate body likely ceasing to function altogether by year's end due to a US blockade. The decentralised control of ledger technology, as opposed to central banking systems, pose unknown threats to international financial systems. The democratic spasms of Hong Kong are rattling the financial and trading foundations of the Asian economic miracle. The macho stare-down in the Hormuz Straits threatens not only oil sea routes vital for East Asian economies but a wider conflagration that could consume the Middle East and beyond. All the while, the Thucydides trap continues to cast a dark shadow over everything else.
It was unrealistic to expect that all these issues could have been brought up and addressed in Bangkok two weeks ago on top of the normal agenda items of Asean foreign ministerial meetings. But expectations will be higher when key government leaders gather for the Asean summit and related meetings in Bangkok in early November.
The coming times of tension and risk will require more alacrity from Asean members as collective hosts. Even more than usual, focus and vision, will be required to provide not only nations but ordinary citizens puzzled and anxious about change, a glimpse of the contours of a better future and their place in it. The Asean leaders will be called upon to provide strategic vision and forward-thinking.
Back in July 1997, a Thai spicy and sour dish by the name of "Tom Yum Kung" became known around the world as a synonym for an Asian Financial Crisis marked by loose borrowing, unsustainable foreign debt, property bubbles and lax regulatory practices. As the issues pile up, we have to be careful that in November 2019, another Thai dish -- "Tom Jup Chai" -- a mishmash soup thrown together from various meats and vegetables does not come to be known worldwide as a synonym for muddled thinking and inaction at a time when the world and its peoples flounder on the edge of a precipice.
As delegates left Bangkok behind on their way to the next round of international conferences, perhaps some may have spared a brief thought for Krisna Pongsaisri, Suntorn Rodsianglum and Sasinipa Petchtonglarng, the street cleaners hospitalised with wounds from small firebombs set off around the city on the last day of the Asean conference.
If they did so, delegates would have gained a better appreciation not only of the complexity and inter-connectedness of the challenges facing countries in the region, but also the courage and resilience of ordinary Asean people determined to overcome adversity. This is the only true, lasting foundation upon which we can build solutions. By focussing on, prioritising and reflecting the needs, concerns and agendas of the grassroots, Asean leaders can shed new light and build momentum towards amelioration of wider issues at higher levels during a defining moment of unprecedented turbulence and uncertainty.
Kobsak Chutikul is a retired ambassador and former elected member of parliament.