Lecture II: ASEAN: What It Can Do for Us, and What It Cannot
The second lecture asks how much ASEAN can help Singapore withstand these pressures. It examines why ASEAN worked despite limited trust and divergent interests. Its founding bargain — regular consultation, respect for sovereignty and mutual restraint — made peaceful dispute management the regional norm. The same bargain sets ASEAN’s limits: every member wants an organisation strong enough to help it, but not strong enough to bind it. It draws on Indonesia’s restraint as ASEAN’s largest member to ask what kind of leading power the region can live with. It identifies three ways ASEAN helps: by keeping the peace among its members, so that Singapore need not face its neighbours and the great powers at once; by acting together where members share an interest; and by keeping both powers engaged in a regional order that neither controls. Because ASEAN can do only what governments will authorise and fund, the lecture proposes a focused agenda for Singapore’s 2027 Chairmanship. It also considers what ASEAN should realistically aim for: autonomy from the major powers, or the resilience to hold together on a few fundamental principles while disagreeing on much else. How far can ASEAN help, and what will it never decide for Singapore?
To find out more about Mr Ng Chee Khern, the 19th S R Nathan Fellow, click here.