ASEAN Affairs Forum

[Malaya]

Sabah drama scratches old wounds between Philippines and Malaysia
By: Anuradha Raghu and Manuel Mogato, Reuters
February 16, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR/MANILA - Drama on Borneo island involving 100 armed men from Sulu is threatening to spark diplomatic tension between the Philippines and Malaysia, whose ties have been periodically frayed by security and migration problems caused by a porous sea border.

The men holed up in a village in the Malaysian state of Sabah are refusing to leave, saying they have links with the Sultanate of Sulu in the Philippines which has a historic claim over the northern tip of Borneo island.

Malaysia police and army officials have formed a tight security ring around the village, media said, with navy boats patrolling nearby islands. The gunmen landed near the coastal town of Lahad Datu on Tuesday.

"They demand to be acknowledged as citizens of the Sultanate of Sulu," Abdullah Kiram, a son of the Sultan of Sulu, Ismael Kiram the II, told Reuters in Manila.

Sulu is an archipelago in the southern Philippines. Today, it is a province but the old sultanate covered a wider area that included the northern tip of Borneo, which is now the Malaysian state of Sabah.

In an arrangement that stretches back to British colonial times, Malaysia pays a token amount to the sultanate each year for the "rental" of Sabah.

"They want to be acknowledged as citizens of their own land. They own Sabah," said Kiram. Sultans in the Muslim-majority Philippine south have no power but generally enjoy the respect of the people.

Malaysian officials said they suspected the men were a faction of a Philippine Muslim rebel group. Philippine officials said they were unarmed Filipinos who had been promised land.

A spokesman for the Philippine Foreign Ministry said on Friday that Malaysia had given an assurance that efforts were underway to get the men to leave peacefully.

"We therefore urge these concerned individuals to return to their homes and families," said spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

Malaysia's police chief said on Thursday the situation was not tense and the men appeared to be "behaving well".

"Discussion is proceeding well and we have told them to leave Sabah peacefully, as we do not want any situation which can threaten the security of the people," Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar told a news conference, according to state news agency Bernama.

The Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur has sent a team to Sabah to coordinate with authorities there and to ascertain the identities of the men.

Sabah drama scratches old wounds between Philippines and Malaysia - InterAksyon.com


Philippines claim on Sabah a thorn in relations

Saturday February 16, 2013

PETALING JAYA: The Philippines' claim on Sabah has always been a thorn in the relationship between Kuala Lumpur and Manila.

When North Borneo (Sabah) decided to be part of Malaysia in 1963, Manila protested the formation of the federation as it claimed that North Borneo belonged to the Philippines as the territory was ceded to it by the Sultan of Sulu Muhammad Esmail E. Kiram I.

Manila laid its claim to Sabah, arguing that “Sabah was only leased to the British North Borneo Company with Sulu's sovereignty never being relinquished”.

However, Kuala Lumpur declared that the dispute was a non-issue as the people of Sabah did not want to be part of the Philippines.

In 1968, the then Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos launched an operation to train militants to infiltrate Sabah in his ambition to claim Sabah.

His move caused diplomatic ties between Kuala Lumpur and Manila to deteriorate.

Relations only improved after 1989 when subsequent Philippine presidents did not pursue the claim.

However, due to political reasons, Manila has not dropped its claim to Sabah.

Philippines claim on Sabah a thorn in relations - Nation | The Star Online

 

[Malaya]

ASEAN and EU regional identity building: What went wrong?

The European Union (EU) received the 2012 Nobel Peace prize for its contribution to regional and global peace. On the other side of the world, another very important regional organization that works to brings peace to its region is the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Although the two are different in many ways, they share the same difficulties in building regional identities. On the eurozone crisis and the South China Sea issue, they try to stay together, integrated and face problems. Both opt to use the notion of identity as an integrating factor. However, the outcomes have not been so satisfying.

According to the pollster Eurobarometer77, the feeling of attachment of Europeans toward the EU stood at only 46 percent in 2012. While 52 percent of European citizens surveyed do not feel any connection with the EU, 15 percent felt no attachment at all.

There are few reliable surveys on the attachment of ASEAN’s citizens to the region, although one survey conducted by Thompson and Thianthai in 2008 revealed that even among elite university students, only 60.7 percent of respondents were familiar with ASEAN.

So what went wrong? There are two explanations for this question: the empirical-practical and the
fundamental-conceptual.

The first reason argues that the EU is still seen by European citizens as an elite club. Political support for the EU is very limited. The main reason for this, according to Neil Fligstein, is that the integration has resulted in uneven outcomes for individuals.

It has only benefited a small group of people among European elites who have had the opportunity to travel, speak other languages and communicate with other Europeans.

Moreover, according to Yeo Lay Hwee, the development of the EU has been top-down and elite driven. The push toward market integration was seen as an elite effort to achieve economic efficiency in a way that disregarded the public discourse on political and social impact. In other words, the fast development of the EU as an institution was not followed by the Europeanization of the citizens.

An example of this gap between the institution and the Europeanization of the citizens is the enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 member states in 2004, which was seen as “advancement” by EU elites.

However, the enlargement did not get significant support from the citizens of the first 15 member countries. Eurobarometer data in 2004 said that only 42 percent of EU citizens agreed to the enlargement, while 39 percent were against.

ASEAN does not have a different story. There are not as many policies that directly touch upon the citizens of ASEAN, except the 30-day free visa. There is no single passport, like in the EU, nor is there as much freedom of movement as the European Schengen provides.

The second explanation considers a fundamental reason rather than an empirical policy basis. We are still living under the Westphalia model of world order where nation-states are the main international actors. Citizens in regional organization always feel a greater sense of “nationality” rather than “regionality”.

In a way, the concept of the nation-state in the current world order hinders the establishment of regional identity, as the identity of a nation will always overshadow the identity of a regional community.

In the global world community such as in the United Nations, all nation-states represent themselves. All votes are all based on nationality. Development of a regional identity, therefore, has been undermined.

The national government thus creates a national notion of everything within its territory, such as national language, national history books, national education system, etc. These national characteristics are the main factors that help to create the identity of a national citizen. A common national language is considered a strong foundation in creating a community’s identity.

An attempt to have a common language in ASEAN is not there yet and might never be there. English has commonly been used in ASEAN and in the EU in their interactions, but its use has been limited to elite groups only.

As long as the approach of an organization that governs a particular area is still based on nationality, it will be difficult to have a strong sense of regionality. So does the government wholeheartedly promote regionalism or still stick to nationality?

In a seminar held by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in December, Joseph Maila said that French identity is more important than the identity of any other group. In the case of ASEAN, the finding of Farish A. Noor’s research in 2012 about the history of Indonesia shows a very nationalistic perspective and very few stories about ASEAN. Sadly, the most frequent mention of another ASEAN member nation was the case of konfrontasi with the Federation of Malaysia in 1963-1965.

These examples show that if a nation-state educates the people in its territory too narrowly about the history of their nation, say Indonesia or Cambodia, at the expense of the history of Southeast Asia, it will be very difficult to build a common identity.

Too nationalistic an approach will shape their culture, character, and hence their national identity somewhat underlines the importance of their regional identity. As a result, the sense of belonging to Europe or Southeast Asia will be overshadowed.

Only the willingness of the government and the citizens can save the day. Changing too nationalistic approaches with a more regional approach may be the answer, bringing ASEAN to the grass roots. It should start from now as the clock is ticking. The ASEAN Community 2015 is only two years away.

ASEAN and EU regional identity building: What went wrong? | The Jakarta Post

 

[Reashot Xigwin]

ASEAN and EU regional identity building: What went wrong?

The European Union (EU) received the 2012 Nobel Peace prize for its contribution to regional and global peace. On the other side of the world, another very important regional organization that works to brings peace to its region is the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Although the two are different in many ways, they share the same difficulties in building regional identities. On the eurozone crisis and the South China Sea issue, they try to stay together, integrated and face problems. Both opt to use the notion of identity as an integrating factor. However, the outcomes have not been so satisfying.

According to the pollster Eurobarometer77, the feeling of attachment of Europeans toward the EU stood at only 46 percent in 2012. While 52 percent of European citizens surveyed do not feel any connection with the EU, 15 percent felt no attachment at all.

There are few reliable surveys on the attachment of ASEAN’s citizens to the region, although one survey conducted by Thompson and Thianthai in 2008 revealed that even among elite university students, only 60.7 percent of respondents were familiar with ASEAN.

So what went wrong? There are two explanations for this question: the empirical-practical and the
fundamental-conceptual.

The first reason argues that the EU is still seen by European citizens as an elite club. Political support for the EU is very limited. The main reason for this, according to Neil Fligstein, is that the integration has resulted in uneven outcomes for individuals.

It has only benefited a small group of people among European elites who have had the opportunity to travel, speak other languages and communicate with other Europeans.

Moreover, according to Yeo Lay Hwee, the development of the EU has been top-down and elite driven. The push toward market integration was seen as an elite effort to achieve economic efficiency in a way that disregarded the public discourse on political and social impact. In other words, the fast development of the EU as an institution was not followed by the Europeanization of the citizens.

An example of this gap between the institution and the Europeanization of the citizens is the enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 member states in 2004, which was seen as “advancement” by EU elites.

However, the enlargement did not get significant support from the citizens of the first 15 member countries. Eurobarometer data in 2004 said that only 42 percent of EU citizens agreed to the enlargement, while 39 percent were against.

ASEAN does not have a different story. There are not as many policies that directly touch upon the citizens of ASEAN, except the 30-day free visa. There is no single passport, like in the EU, nor is there as much freedom of movement as the European Schengen provides.

The second explanation considers a fundamental reason rather than an empirical policy basis. We are still living under the Westphalia model of world order where nation-states are the main international actors. Citizens in regional organization always feel a greater sense of “nationality” rather than “regionality”.

In a way, the concept of the nation-state in the current world order hinders the establishment of regional identity, as the identity of a nation will always overshadow the identity of a regional community.

In the global world community such as in the United Nations, all nation-states represent themselves. All votes are all based on nationality. Development of a regional identity, therefore, has been undermined.

The national government thus creates a national notion of everything within its territory, such as national language, national history books, national education system, etc. These national characteristics are the main factors that help to create the identity of a national citizen. A common national language is considered a strong foundation in creating a community’s identity.

An attempt to have a common language in ASEAN is not there yet and might never be there. English has commonly been used in ASEAN and in the EU in their interactions, but its use has been limited to elite groups only.

As long as the approach of an organization that governs a particular area is still based on nationality, it will be difficult to have a strong sense of regionality. So does the government wholeheartedly promote regionalism or still stick to nationality?

In a seminar held by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in December, Joseph Maila said that French identity is more important than the identity of any other group. In the case of ASEAN, the finding of Farish A. Noor’s research in 2012 about the history of Indonesia shows a very nationalistic perspective and very few stories about ASEAN. Sadly, the most frequent mention of another ASEAN member nation was the case of konfrontasi with the Federation of Malaysia in 1963-1965.

These examples show that if a nation-state educates the people in its territory too narrowly about the history of their nation, say Indonesia or Cambodia, at the expense of the history of Southeast Asia, it will be very difficult to build a common identity.

Too nationalistic an approach will shape their culture, character, and hence their national identity somewhat underlines the importance of their regional identity. As a result, the sense of belonging to Europe or Southeast Asia will be overshadowed.

Only the willingness of the government and the citizens can save the day. Changing too nationalistic approaches with a more regional approach may be the answer, bringing ASEAN to the grass roots. It should start from now as the clock is ticking. The ASEAN Community 2015 is only two years away.

ASEAN and EU regional identity building: What went wrong? | The Jakarta Post

The ASEAN integration plan is slowly crumbling

 

[Viet]

Qatar Airways ready to launch daily flights to Cambodia's capital

English.news.cn 2013-02-18 14:49:30
Xinhua

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Doha-based Qatar Airways will operate its daily flights from Doha to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, from Tuesday, Cambodia's tourism minister Thong Khon said Monday.

"Tomorrow (Tuesday), the airline will launch daily flights from Doha to Phnom Penh via Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam," he told reporters on the sidelines of a tourism conference. "It will become the only Middle Eastern carrier to operate into Cambodia."

The minister said that with the presence of Qatar Airways, he believed that there would be more tourists from Arab countries to Cambodia.

"It is a huge airline. Its presence here truly reflects Cambodia's full security and political stability and potential for business opportunities," he said.

According to a report of Cambodia Airports, the developer and operator of the country's international airports, Qatar Airways will operate flights with an A330-300 plane, which can be seated by 305 passengers.

Ang Kim Eang, president of Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, said the presence of Qatar Airways in Cambodia will benefit not only tourism industry, but also trade and investment between Cambodia and countries in the Middle East.

"When there is direct flight between the two countries, it will bring tourists, investors and businesspeople from Qatar and other Arab countries to Cambodia," he told Xinhua over telephone on Monday.

According to the latest report of tourism ministry, last year, Cambodia received only 10,000 tourists from more than 10 countries in the Middle East.

 

[xdrive]

Oh god, now I know why most people make you in their ignore list, you are to chauvinist to be made understand about anything.
Note this, we will never be falling against any sanction, we have been living under sanction from U.S or Soviet, now you can see which country has the most powerful economy in the region compared to those who haven't been under any sanction.

Sure, and after you found that alliance, don't beg our money when your economy is not enough to fund your war which makes you once again under the same condition with vietnam war.

Hahaha, ignore NiceGuy. He is obsessed with the idea of Asian countries attacking each other and lives in a fantasy world where everyone is enemies like in a video game.

He clearly doesn't know anything about the Australian-Indonesian relationship.

 

[jhungary]

Hahaha, ignore NiceGuy. He is obsessed with the idea of Asian countries attacking each other and lives in a fantasy world where everyone is enemies like in a video game.

He clearly doesn't know anything about the Australian-Indonesian relationship.

LOL put him on my ignore list a long time ago....

HE live on his deranged world where every country in Asia would bow down to Vietnam in the end, even big gun like America and China.

He have some serious mental issue. Just ignore him and it will make a better world here

Actually, we have a love hate relation between Indonesia and Australia. it's hard for people to understand, we have ours up and down (Especially in the East Timor Period) and now we welcome back Indonesia as our stregetic partner.

 

[Viet]

Vietnam attends fifth India-ASEAN Dialogue

Updated : 2/20/2013 11:05:13 AM
VOV online

ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh



(VOV) - A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh attended the fifth India-ASEAN Delhi Dialogue in New Delhi, India on February 19.

The dialogue titled ˈIndia-ASEAN: Vision for Partnership and Prosperity” draw the participation of political and economic leaders, government officials and experts from ASEAN member countries and India.

The two-day dialogue focused on topics: ‘India-ASEAN Security Cooperation: Towards Peace and Stability,’ ‘Non-Traditional Security Challenges: Food Security, Water Management and Pandemics,’ ‘Future of Global Energy Market: Role of New and Renewable Energy in Sustainable Development,’ ‘Cooperation between Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) and North-East India: Opportunities and Challenges,’ and ‘Expanding Networks through Connectivity: Land, Sea and Air.’

India and ASEAN account for one quarter of the world population and their combined GDP amounts to US$3.8 trillion. Their two-way trade turnover exceeded the target of US$70 billion last year, up 37 percent from the 2011-2012 figure. They are striving to lift bilateral trade to US$100 billion by 2015.

 

[nufix]

Hahaha, ignore NiceGuy. He is obsessed with the idea of Asian countries attacking each other and lives in a fantasy world where everyone is enemies like in a video game.

He clearly doesn't know anything about the Australian-Indonesian relationship.

Actually, if you follow every post he made, this guy is obsessed with the idea of Vietnam rules the whole ASEAN plus Australia and make those countries become Vietnam subordinates. And in order to achieve his obsession, he seems so sure that Vietnam can take control the whole Malacca strait even when navies from 3 traditional owners of Malacca strait (Malay-Indo-SG) are combined to protect the strait.

Indonesia-Australia relationship is too complex for him to understand, he'd like to see Australia bombing Indonesia or vice versa to support his dream instead.

Actually, we have a love hate relation between Indonesia and Australia. it's hard for people to understand, we have ours up and down (Especially in the East Timor Period) and now we welcome back Indonesia as our stregetic partner.

Yes, Indonesia-Australia relationship is more like two friends in a bar, supporting each other in critical times like when Australia supported the Independence of Indonesia and throwing each other's bottles when both countries have disagreements. But the fact that Indonesia lives next door to Australia makes the heat quickly disappear as both need each other role to keep stability in the region.

 

[Rechoice]

Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail link planned

Singapore and Malaysia have announced plans for a high-speed rail link, with a target completion date of 2020.

The link would reduce travel time between Singapore and the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, to 90 minutes.

Leaders of the two nations said that the move would boost business ties and increase trade.

No cost was given for the project, to be built by private companies. A joint committee would start looking at the details, a joint statement said.

The move came as Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak met in Singapore for talks.

The rail link was a "strategic development in bilateral relations that will dramatically improve" connectivity, the joint statement said.

"Ultimately, this project will give both countries greater stakes in each other's prosperity and success."

Trains currently take about six hours to make the 300km (190 miles) journey between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. By road, the journey takes about four hours.

BBC News - Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail link planned

 

[Nusantara]

Australia-Indonesia is neighbour, but they seems didn't know each other
what australian know about indonesia beside terrorist, bombing, east timor, papua, death penalty for drugs smuggler, muslim, javanese aggressor, illegal immigrant smuggler etc?
what indonesian know about australia beside white, racist, "european" country among asian neighbour, tourist in bali, descendant of european criminals, land grabber, howard?

 

[NiceGuy]

LOL put him on my ignore list a long time ago....

HE live on his deranged world where every country in Asia would bow down to Vietnam in the end, even big gun like America and China.

He have some serious mental issue. Just ignore him and it will make a better world here

at least l didn't lie abt Guam oil supply like u, Birds of same feather will flock together, liar will collude with liar ,that's nature

Btw:U still have 30 years to wait and see the US fall like Mogol barbarian after defeated by Great Viet(former name of VietNam), with the New-Soviet's help, Malacca soon will fall into our hands,it means new-Soviet soon will control ur boring Guam .

 

[NiceGuy]

Hahaha, ignore NiceGuy. He is obsessed with the idea of Asian countries attacking each other and lives in a fantasy world where everyone is enemies like in a video game.

He clearly doesn't know anything about the Australian-Indonesian relationship.

l don't need to know coz VN only want to replace US in controlling Malacca. Indo-Aussie are too far for VN's core interest

After US fall, and when Aissie need a new boss to counter China-new Soviet's threat,then maybe we will think abt being ur boss

Btw Nufix is decent man,he doesn't like what l tell people here abt future of ASEAN,but he never lie,and he may know that VN support Cambodia to mess Thailand up,too.so,all l say here is Truth(except what l predict abt future,we need time to coffirm it),it's not a video game that Asia nations attack each other.

If u don't know,then let me remind u that VN attacked Thailand from 1979 to 1988,and we just simply do it again and again .US dare not to accuse VN now coz US is shrinking and falling in ASEAN

 

[xdrive]

Rofl he thinks Vietnam is a superpower.

He is delusional.

 

[NiceGuy]

Rofl he thinks Vietnam is a superpower.

He is delusional.

We defeated Mongol when ur country still didn't have a name on World map yet.

So,its easy to understand why u don't know what can and what will we do in Asia.

Just sit and wait,you will see the US fall after 30 years coz they're making same mistake and have same problems with Mongol babarian now. When Us fall,we will annex its ally just like we did to Champa-Mongol's ally or order tribute payment from weaker West and South neighbours .

Enjoy the way to control the Asia region of Native Asian people, dude.

 

[Reashot Xigwin]

We defeated Mongol when ur country still didn't have a name on World map yet.

So,its easy to understand why u don't know what can and what will we do in Asia.

Just sit and wait,you will see the US fall after 30 years coz they're making same mistake and have same problems with Mongol babarian now. When Us fall,we will annex its ally just like we did to Champa-Mongol's ally or order tribute payment from weaker West and South neighbours .

Enjoy the way to control the Asia region of Native Asian people, dude.

What a coincidence we do to

After defeating the Melayu Kingdom[13] in Sumatra in 1290, Singhasari became the most powerful kingdom in the region. Kublai Khan, the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and the Emperor of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, challenged Singhasari by sending emissaries demanding tribute. Kertanegara, the last ruler of Singhasari, refused to pay the tribute, insulted the Mongol envoy and challenged the Khan instead. As the response, in 1293, Kublai Khan sent a massive expedition of 1,000 ships to Java.

Mongol invasion of Java - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yet we don't rub it on other people faces. Reliving Past glory is as useless as it is stupid.