ASEAN is moving towards becoming a community by 2015. In order to create a people-oriented community as declared in the ASEAN Charter, people’s active participation is required.
On 23-26 September 2010, the ASEAN People’s Forum 6 (APF 6), a last gathering of the ASEAN civil society before the ASEAN Summit on 28 October 2010, was held at the Tay Ho hotel, Hanoi, to exchange ideas and make recommendations to ASEAN leaders for building a people-oriented community.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Vietnam as a member of the Association. APF 6 was officially opened by Mr Nguyen Thien Ahan, Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam. In his remark, Mr Nguyen declared that “Vietnam assumes the ASEAN chairmanship when the Charter comes into effect and ASEAN is moving forward to a community by 2015. This deems a new qualitative development in the history of the Association…the active role and the agent of people and people’s organisations are extremely important and indispensible.”
Because regional integration should begin with and be based on the people’s integration, APF 6’s theme was “Solidarity and Action for a people-oriented ASEAN”. The forum has gathered, as one of participants claimed, “people from different colours; not skin but ideologies and social and cultural backgrounds”. Partners of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty – the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism (RWG) and the Economic Freedom Network Asia (EFN Asia) – also participated in this event. There were altogether over 700 participants from mass organisation, social movements and, local and international NGOs at the forum.
Beside the discussion about building ASEAN community, various specific issues, such as economic integration and cooperation, human rights and democracy, and migration, were thrashed out. The join statement, which contains recommendations, will be submitted to ASEAN leaders. Like participants, the statement is a mix of ‘different colours’, mainly calling on ASEAN and its members to step up the performance of mechanisms and agreements in order to maintain peace, prevent conflicts and deal with disputes in a peaceful way. It also urged ASEAN to develop policies regarding culture, society, equality, respect and protection of rights of people, especially women, children, ethnic minorities, stateless and the disabled. The outcome might not show unity in the idea, but it shows respect for diversity and solidarity in action.
Some flashed liberal colours at the forum include:
“More protection; more pollution”
“Without check and balance, there will be abuse of power”
“There is no absolute freedom. Freedom comes to an end when its hurts others”
“There can be unity in diversity. We need different shoes for different sizes”
“To recognise and respect diversity and to promote unity in diversity means to respect individual’s differences”
