“The ASEAN Regional Forum: Challenges and Prospects” with Tan Sri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan
On May 12 Tan Sri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Senior Advisor, Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya and Board Member at the Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) delivered a lecture on the ASEAN Regional Forum role in the regional security cooperation. The event concluded the spring semester program “ASEAN Academic Days 2021 in MGIMO” and was moderatored by Dr. Ekaterina Koldunova, ASEAN Centre Acting Director, Associate Professor of the Department of Asian and African Studies at MGIMO.
The lecture touched upon the challenges and prospects of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). In tackling the regional security issues ARF is limited by its governing principle of consensus and its toolset, presented mostly by the confidence-building measures. The lecturer also stated that the geographical framework of the Forum also raises many questions, as it overlaps with the geographical “scope of responsibility” of other regional organizations, such as ASEAN or Pacific Islands Forum. Mr. Jawhar Hassan also stressed the need to enlarge the mandate of the Forum to include non-traditional security issues, such as maritime security, counterterrorism, disaster relief, etc. However, despite several flaws, ASEAN Regional Forum is still unique and together with the ASEAN Ministerial Meetings is one of the key mechanisms to deal with regional security issues.
At the Q&A session the audience raised several questions on the Track 2 diplomacy in regional security management, the influence of the current conflict in Myanmar on other ASEAN member states and the potential of ASEAN and ARF in mitigating the conflict, and the concurrence of the QUAD and the concept of the Indo-Pacific with the current and future role of the ARF.
Among the attendees were the ASEAN Centre Director (2010-2021) Victor Sumsky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Malaysia to the Russian Federation H.E. Dato’ Bala Chandran Tharman, businesspersons, academic staff and students from MGIMO, different Russian and foreign universities. The recording of the meeting is available at the respective section on the ASEAN Centre website or on MGIMO channel in YouTube.
The next lecture within the “ASEAN Academic Days program” will be held in the fall semester of 2021/2022 academic year. Announcements for upcoming events and other ASEAN Centre projects will be posted on the ASEAN Centre website, Facebook and Instagram page.
