Indonesia Conference Directory

None of Southeast Asian countries considered to be fully democratic. The region has been governed by authoritarian and semi authoritarian regime for many decades. Indonesia, after being ruled for 32 years by an authoritarian regime, seem headed into convoluted identity politics. Even after the fall of Marcos in 1986, Philippines is still not regarded as a fully function democracy. Today the country is still entangled with oligarchs. While Myanmar has changed its military regime, and Malaysia-s opposition party won general election for the first time in its history. Both countries are still lacking in democracy index. Singapore is still run by the same regime since its independence, and Brunei has recently implemented shariah law. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam has not shown any indication towards democratization. Many scholars have been debated whether ASEAN should play a role to encourage democratization in Southeast Asia. Some scholars suggest that ASEAN must take more active engagement to push democratic agenda. These scholars further argue that ASEAN should reconsider its ASEAN way which requires not to meddle with its member domestic issue. While other scholars suggest that the most important matter is to maintain peace and stability within the the region. This essay attempts to answer question whether ASEAN should maintain or change its traditional approach towards democracy issue. By using critiques on modernization theories, the essay tries to explain how economic development in Southeast Asian countries does not have significant impact towards democratization. This paper also suggest that instead of changing its traditional ASEAN way that has maintain the peace and stability of the region for last five decades, ASEAN must focus on constructive engagement that has proven to work in encouraging democratization in Myanmar. Hence it put forward the idea that ASEAN way works only if it is not imposing external values but rather appreciating democratic values within the country.