Challenges and Opportunities of the Establishment ASEAN Open Skies Policy

Open skies policy is a concept of free market of airline industry. It eliminates single government’s influence in regulation and management of aviation industry. As implemented by the ASEAN Single Aviation Market (ASEAN-SAM) per 2015, the open skies policy aims to increase regional connectivity and regional economic growth by permitting airline industries from each ASEAN member states to fly above the Southeast Asian region without any barriers or restrictions. This policy has raised pros and cons from each ASEAN member state. Indonesia and some other states are still reluctant to adopt the open skies policy. By entering into commercial agreement to open their airspace, each member states will challenge their state sovereignty over the airspace above a state’s territory. This study argues that regional open skies policy provides greater economic advantages for the consumers of airline industry. However, this policy does not parallel to the basic principles of ASEAN. State sovereignty must be preserved in the liberalization that open skies represents. ASEAN Way, though inflexible, assigns member states with full sovereignty, which does not limit open skies policy implementation. This study, then, proposed legal framework through model of regional agreement to compromise between the state sovereignty principles and the regional open skies policy.

The Roles of ARCH Project in the Strengthening of the ASEAN Disaster Health Management

Introduction:The Project for Strengthening the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Capacity on Disaster Health Management (ARCH Project) is the project under the collaborative framework between the National Institute for Emergency Medicine, Thailand, Ministry of Public Health, and Japan International Cooperation Agency. The project aims to strengthen disaster health management focusing on the International Emergency Team (I-EMT) operation and coordination in ASEAN by using various mechanisms, for example, regional collaboration meeting, regional collaboration drill, training, etc.Aim:The study aims to evaluate the outcomes which ARCH Project’s activities have been facilitating to strengthen the ASEAN disaster health management.Methods:A comparative study is utilized to see the improvement of the ASEAN disaster health management of the current situation and the project’s outputs compared to the previous survey in 2015.Results:Recent ASEAN disaster health management has been strengthened in three distinctive dimensions: (1.) national capacity of each ASEAN Member States is being strengthened through the project’s training courses; (2.) the ASEAN I-EMT coordination platforms have been set up to the extent that the progress of developing the toolkits such as the Standard Operating Procedures for the Coordination of EMT in ASEAN is at its eighty percent, while the Database of the EMT and their Minimum Requirements and Qualifications are now at its ninety percent; and (3.) Standard reporting forms (medical record and health need assessment form) for all ASEAN member state (AMS) has been developed and fully completed.Discussion:The ARCH Project has been facilitating the strengthening of the ASEAN disaster health management through its capacity building endeavors and the creation of collaborative mechanisms for operations and coordination. These activities should be maintained either under the existing or newly created mechanisms in order to build a sustainable collaborative framework.

The Spread of English in ASEAN: Policies and Issues

The ASEAN region is home to great ethnic, cultural, political and economic diversity and linguistically, represents a region where both Outer and Expanding Circle varieties of English are spoken. English is designated as the sole working language of the ASEAN region but in reality, it has a different status and performs very different roles in each ASEAN member state. This article first provides an overview of the spread of English in Southeast Asia. It then looks at English language policies in each of the Outer and Expanding Circle ASEAN countries, and discusses issues including models and norms of spoken English and intelligibility concerns. The article concludes by emphasizing that global–local tensions in the use of English in each of the ASEAN contexts should be taken into consideration. There is also the need to strike a balance between the existing tensions in order for the region to compete in the globally connected landscape of the 21st century.

MEMBANGUN KEAMANAN REGIONAL DI ASEAN DALAM MENANGGULANGI ANCAMAN TERORISME

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) as a regional cooperation association has a significant roles on harmonizing the counter terrorism effort in the Southeast Asia region. Based on primary and secondary data by using qualitative method, the purpose of this paper is to examine the harmonization of counter terrorism cooperation between ASEAN members. The research found that ASEAN has a set of counter terrorism policies that had been ratified in different times as a form of regional policies harmonization. However in terms of strategic-operational level, the ASEAN’s member states has the authority to tackle terrorism issue on their own with the possibility to establish a cooperation with a non ASEAN member state. In addition, the US also has a significant role in assisting counter terrorism effort for ASEAN’s states members.

After Indonesia's Ratification: The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution and its Effectiveness as a Regional Environmental Governance Tool

On 20 January 2015 Indonesia deposited its instrument of ratification for the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution with the ASEAN Secretariat, becoming the last ASEAN member state to join the treaty. Haze pollution poses a serious health threat to the people of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, and for decades haze pollution has been a highly contentious issue among ASEAN member states. This article argues that Indonesia's ratification will not be an immediate game changer. The mechanisms of the agreement are too weak to contribute much to a reduction of haze pollution in the region. The agreement is designed according to the ASEAN way: a non-binding approach that is based on the principles of state sovereignty and non-intervention. This makes it unlikely that the agreement itself will bring about change, even now that all ASEAN member states have ratified it.