ASEAN identity

Several Southeast Asian journalists who have visited the Philippines regularly have a common observation: there is low awareness among ordinary Filipinos of belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In contrast, the Thais and highly competitive Singaporeans have keenly scrutinized the opportunities and challenges presented by regional integration under the ASEAN Economic Community. I’ve sensed the same high level of public awareness in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Tiny Singapore is particularly aware of the advantages of drawing strength in numbers. ASEAN has a market of nearly 640 million people – the world’s third largest – and a land area of 4.4 million square kilometers, or about three percent of the planet.

Maybe the average Pinoy’s weak sense of belonging to ASEAN is partly due to our physical distance from Southeast Asia’s main island grouping. Because of our location, several foreign governments group us together with the Pacific island states for purposes of their diplomatic representation, even if we are one of the five founding members of ASEAN.

We are closest to the rest of Southeast Asia from Tawi-Tawi, where surrounding waters are infested with pirates and Abu Sayyaf marauders, and from the southern tip of Palawan. The rest of the region lies across the South China Sea, now de facto owned and occupied by hostile forces that hose away our fishermen. How can the average Pinoy have a sense of belonging to this larger whole?

Metro Manila residents at least became aware of ASEAN in recent days, thanks to the initial traffic gridlock on EDSA followed by the long holiday for the annual summit and related meetings.

Pinoys are aware of individual ASEAN states such as Singapore, which is a top destination for our workers, and popular travel destinations in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. But ask ordinary folks about ASEAN and you draw a blank.

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Instead many Pinoys still prefer to look east across the wider Pacific Ocean, to Honolulu where you can tell the Filipino homes from the malunggay trees planted in the yard, and beyond Hawaii, to Hollywood, Las Vegas and on to New York. There Pinoys can dream the American dream – to realize one’s full potential, to get ahead in life on one’s own merit rather than the right surname or connections.

Earlier this year I attended a Japan-organized media forum with ASEAN in Kuala Lumpur that coincided with the Malaysian capital’s hosting of the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG).

ASEAN and SEAG streamers, posters and mascots of all sizes were all over the city, including shopping malls. Bus and cab drivers, store clerks, students – everyone talked about the games and followed the events on TV, cell phones and tablets.

It was a big deal for them, and for good reason – the Malaysian team emerged at the top with a medal haul of 323: 145 golds, 92 silvers and 86 bronzes.

The Philippines ranked sixth, behind all the four other founding ASEAN members plus Vietnam. With 24 golds, 33 silvers and 64 bronze medals, it was the Philippine team’s worst performance ever in SEAG. Even in sports, we’d rather be entertained by the American NBA and boxing prizefights. Most Pinoys aren’t even familiar with certain SEAG sports such as sepak takraw, the Indonesian martial art pencak silat and Thai boxing.

Religion also probably adds to the divide. Thanks to the Spanish conquistadors, we’re the only Roman Catholic majority country in ASEAN – and in Asia for that matter. Freethinkers and atheists are alien to our culture. We have more spiritual affinity with Western Europe than with our own region, even if Christmas is now celebrated in many parts of Asia, mostly for commercial purposes.

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Because of the religion, it’s easier for Muslim Filipinos to identify with Muslim-majority Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. There is greater regional awareness among Filipinos interacting with neighboring states in that regional corridor. They even have a common language, Arabic.

But we also share many things in common with our ASEAN neighbors.

Thanks to our history lessons, we do know that Muslims from areas that are now Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia came to our islands and set up communities alongside the original settlers, the indigenous peoples. They gave us the building blocks of Tagalog (now Filipino), later expanded with words from the Chinese, Indian, and of course Spanish and English languages.

One look at the Indonesians and Malaysians and we can tell that we come from the same gene pool. Our extended family system, respect for elders (sadly, now rapidly fading) and emphasis on the group rather than the individual are strongly Asian.

Our cuisine bears Southeast Asian influences: those sour soups, the extensive use of coconut milk heavily flavored with spices and herbs, fish sauce and shrimp paste, the popularity of ube or purple yam, and pandan for flavoring.

We can draw on many shared aspects of culture and history to develop an ASEAN identity.

This year ASEAN is celebrating 50 years. It shouldn’t take another half century to boost our economic and cultural integration into the region.