Leaders of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) at their annual summit on Nov 22 formally established the ASEAN Community.

The realisation of the ASEAN Community is a momentous milestone in ASEAN’s history, but has been met with lukewarm response from various sectors of ASEAN society.

Pundits questioned whether ASEAN had really become a community — they compared ASEAN with the European Union (EU), and were disappointed that ASEAN did not measure up to the level of integration achieved by the EU.

There was nothing like the European Parliament or the European Court of Justice. Social activists argued that the ordinary citizens of ASEAN are mostly unaware of the community-building process, or see no benefit from being part of it.

… Ong Keng Yong is executive deputy chairman and Kyaw San Wai is a senior analyst at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. This commentary first appeared in RSIS Commentaries.