Page 29 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Founding Ethical Enterprise

Gone are the days when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) was the sole business of national leaders, high-level
officials, and the intellectual elites of the region. ASEAN has come
a long way from being an entirely elitist, ‘top–bottom’ Association to
a regional organisation that is more accommodative – albeit slowly
– towards a genuinely ‘people-oriented’, ‘people-centred’ and/or
‘people-driven’ regional community (…) It was only in the late 1990s,
however, that the Association began its engagement with the wider
civil society organisations (CSOs).

There are many types of CSOs that are involved in ethical action:
• Foundations created by the ASEAN Secretariat directly such as the ASEAN
Foundation and the ASEAN University Network
• ASEAN entities such as the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC), the
ASEAN Human Development Organisation (AHDO), the ASEAN Corporate Social
Responsibility Network (ASEAN CSR), or the Ethics Council and Advisory for the
ASEAN Region (ECAAR)
• Think tanks such as the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in 2015 and the Economic
Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
• International organisations involved with ASEAN ethics from the United Nations
and for-profit ESG investment consultancies, with many non-government
organisations involved in a multitude of ethical issues from human rights groups
to support for migrant workers
• Unofficial people-to-people organisations from women’s leadership mentoring
for business to student cross-border “milk tea” networks for human rights and
democracy.
Many of these CSOs will be present in the ECAAR Dialogues that make up the second part
of this book.

ASEAN Business Ethics

Given the diversity of governance in the 10 ASEAN nations and the explicit agreement
not to interfere in what happens in member countries (an ethic under criticism with the
Myanmar putsch as we shall discuss later), it is important to understand the other ethical
drivers of ASEAN integration. The strongest non-government driver in terms of resources
is business. Companies need to manage across the region with common values and
policies, and they want to draw on ASEAN’s immense talent potential. Both ASEAN-based
companies and international multinationals are pushing for cross-border business ethics
in line with international reporting standards and progressive workplace practices of
equity, inclusion and human development in the workplace.
Seeing ASEAN as an integrated region has only recently become common for
multinational companies. For example, at GE when Stuart Dean took over his regional CEO
role in 2002, it was called the Southeast Asia region. Seeing that an integrated ASEAN

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