Benny, Guido and Tham, Siew and Ramli, Rashila
(2015)
Public Opinion On The Formation Of The Asean
Economic Community: An Exploratory Study
In Three Asean Countries.
International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 11 (1).
pp. 85-114.
ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243
Abstract
In 1997, 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states
envisaged an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) with free flows of goods,
services and investments, and freer flows of capital features. In contrast to the
process of establishing economic integration in the European Union, the process
in ASEAN has never directly engaged the public. This study aims to gauge public
opinion on the AEC through a survey research conducted in 11 major cities in
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It investigates the extent of public attitudes
and aspirations in four dimensions—support, commitment, perceived benefits and
aspiration—among the public in the three countries. Survey results show that the
attitudes of the public were positive, but there were differences in the extent of
support, commitment and perceived benefits. The study also finds that they seem
to aspire for a different kind of integration from the European format of regional
integration. In addition, comparison statistics showed that the Malaysian and
Indonesian public exhibited more positive attitude and higher aspiration for
economic integration. The finding implies that the ASEAN Secretariat—together
with national governments—needs to formulate effective strategies to maintain
positive attitudes and support for the integration initiatives. It further suggests
that ASEAN should continuously monitor public opinion on the region's economic
integration and develop strategies for fostering and maintaining good support
from the public for further deepening the economic integration process.
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