ASEAN celebrated its forty-first anniversary on 8 August 2008. There are many critics of ASEAN, regarding its limited institutional capability in providing prosperity for all Southeast Asian people.

It is understood that by its forty-first anniversary, ASEAN will still remain a regional organization that focuses on elites and will not have emphasized the importance of intercommunity relations within its member states. In other words, ASEAN is only well known among the government elites of Southeast Asian countries rather than among its people. Meanwhile, leaders of the ASEAN members have signed the ASEAN Charter in 2007. Will the ASEAN Charter be able to make this regional organization more people-centric?

REGIONAL IDENTITY

In order to integrate government elites and the people in ASEAN, there are many things that have to be carried out. One of them is to accelerate the establishment of an ASEAN regional identity. A regional identity should at least make reference to a collective identity or supranational identity that covers all elements in the ASEAN Community. Put in a simple manner, a regional identity can be categorized into two elements. The first is a symbolic/institutional identity.

Applying a symbolic identity will be easier. For instance, ASEAN already has its own logo, flag, and secretariat. Nevertheless, there are several identities that are not well known to the common people. ASEAN also has other symbolic identities, such as a sports event known as SEA Games. However, there are several other symbolic identities that can be developed to promote a regional identity, such as an ASEAN theme song, and, if possible, designating of the date of establishment of ASEAN as a common holiday in the Southeast Asian region.

Another symbolic identity that has to be promoted is the establishment of an ASEAN Studies Centre or Southeast Asian Studies. There are not many universities in ASEAN member countries that focus on studies on the Southeast Asian region. This is one of the important points that came up in the Bangkok Declaration (8 August 1967 — to promote Southeast Asian Studies). Ironically, this study can be found only in Singapore.