In a grand ceremony in Kuala Lumpur last month, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) formally established an integrated community that will begin on Dec 31.

As a sign that integration is an ongoing process, the grouping also launched a vision to achieve further cohesiveness as a community in the next decade.

The 10-year workplan contains refreshed blueprints for the three pillars — political-security, economic and socio-cultural — that support the ASEAN Community.

… Assistant Professor Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit, an expert on the AEC at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies in S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), said that to resolve the outstanding items in the blueprint, domestic laws and regulations would have to be amended.

“Adjusting domestic laws and regulations is of course political, because changes will create winners and losers within the society,” she said.

“Losers are actually those in sectors that cannot compete in the open economy, and they often form coalitions blocking their government’s move to change the laws.”

On a more positive note, she noted that the 2025 AEC blueprint places more focus on ASEAN’s participation in Global Value Chains, or how different stages of production, trade and investments cut across different countries.