Page 84 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Ethics of ASEAN

initiatives, programs, and platforms. The following are a few examples of platforms where
youths in ASEAN are brought together for learning, dialogue and participation in policy
making.
• ASEAN Youth Forum (AYF) 5
AYF is geared as a platform for ASEAN youths to voice their concerns and strategies
on ways to achieve a better ASEAN that is sustainable, inclusive, people-centred and
youth-driven. The network works to institutionalize its national chapters working
together on local issues affecting the youth, and consolidate policy proposals and
agenda and send them to relevant ASEAN offices.

• ASEAN Student Leaders Forum (ASLF) 6
Organized by the ASEAN University Network, ASLF is an annual event that brings
together student leader groups and associations under AUN Member Universities
together for an opportunity to network and collaborate.

• ASEAN Youth Organisation (AYO) 7
Founded in 2013 and accredited by the ASEAN Secretariat in 2018, AYO is a non-profit
and non-governmental organisation with the aim to raise awareness and interest
among youths in ASEAN and its vision, identity and value.

Ethical Takeaways
This ECAAR dialogue was directly focused on leadership ethics, but other types of ethics
were mentioned by the speakers, notably virtue ethics and rules-based ethics.
Dr Ramos-Horta explained the emerging ethical challenge to ASEAN with the
Myanmar crisis. ASEAN leaders have failed to come up with an ethical decision about a
Member State based on the rules-based ethics of ASEAN institutions. The national virtue
ethics and political priorities of each country have led to paralysis. During the dialogue,
President Ramos-Horta also shared his own virtue ethics for political leadership: humility,
compassion, passion, integrity and communication.
Gil Gonzales underlined the limits of ASEAN’s consensus-oriented regional process
leading to a complex structure of summits, councils, sectoral bodies and working groups.
For Gil, ethical leadership in ASEAN is not only about making tactical ethical decisions in
working groups but should be a collective commitment to improving the governance and
development of the region where leaders are held accountable.
Dr Yang Mee Eng sees ethical leadership as increasingly important for ASEAN’s own
culture. She highlights five virtue ethics principles promoted by the ASEAN Foundation:
honesty, justice, respect, community, and integrity. She also described how the ASEAN
Foundation contributes to programmes supporting young leaders with ethics.

5 ASEAN Youth Forum (NA). Retrieved from https://aseanyouthforum.org/about-asean-youth-forum/ on 9 May
2023
6 ASEAN University Network (NA). ASEAN Student Leaders Forum. Retrieved from https://www.aunsec.org/aun-
action/our-flagship-project/asean-student-leaders-forum on 9 May 2023
7 ASEAN Youth Organisation (NA). Retrieved from https://aseanyouth.net/about/ on 9 May 2023

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