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Edited: Kamarulzaman
Askandar
Foreword
Inter state conflicts still present a threat to the stability and security
of the Southeast Asian region today. Despite efforts to reduce the intensity
of “hot spots” in the area, the region is still facing destabilizing
conflicts. This situation has been exacerbated by the “war on terrorism” led
by the United States since the September 11 incident. Among the implications
of this policy is the intensification of activities against groups classified
as terrorist groups, as well as the strengthening of regimes in their battles
against these groups. This has resulted in many observers concluding that
the many hot spots in the region will become even hotter.
Different countries have tried to address the situation differently according
to the needs and demands they faced from within as well as international
pressures. Mechanisms, both internal and international, have been introduced
to tackle and resolve these conflict situations. Over the years new challenges
have arisen that calls into question these mechanisms and tested their
effectiveness. The region has also seen changes, both within the boundaries
of individual nations as well as globally. For instance, it has seen the
changing of the structure of the power balance in the world system; the
move from bilateralism to unilateralism; the “end of history” to
the “clash of civilisation” to the “war against terrorism”;
the euphoria of the expansion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) in the nineties replaced by the reality of propping up poorer and
weaker countries; leadership changes within each country and the “new” way
of thinking of these new leaders, subscribing less to the old school of
thoughts of those leaders that grew up and matured with ASEAN; conflicts
created and then avoided, contained, or settled, but rarely resolved; some
conflicts lingering on while others escalated; economic recession and depression;
prospects for the “deepening” of the ASEAN hampered by the
economic crisis which forced the countries to focus on their own interests
and survival as nation-states instead of enhancing cooperation and collaboration
with each other, either bilaterally or under the ASEAN umbrella. All these
have influenced the thinking about conflict prevention, management, and
resolution in the region.
It is a fact that there needs to be a more complete and comprehensive approach
to addressing the conflicts in Southeast Asia. There has been a lot “of
peace” work done, albeit quietly, to transform the situation in Southeast
Asia. Among the organizations that have been working to promote peaceful
values and a more objective way of looking at and analyzing conflict is
the Southeast Asian Conflict Studies Network (SEACSN). The SEACSN is a
network of individuals and institutions in Southeast Asia working to promote
research in the fields of peace studies and conflict resolution. It was
formally set up in 2001, although members of the network have been working
closely with each other on various projects for many years before that.
Among activities organized by the network include national and regional
workshops, seminars, training programs, as well as research and exchange
programs. There have been a number of regional workshops on the topics
of “Ethnic and Religious Conflicts”, “Culture and Conflict
Resolution”, “Public Policy Conflict Management”, “Inter-state
conflicts and Conflict Resolution”, and “Development Related
Conflicts”. The national workshops, organized by the national coordinators
of SEACSN, have focused on various themes including issues and challenges
for conflict resolution, peace education, the role of civil society in
conflict resolution, and peace advocacy.
This book is the result of the 4th SEACSN Regional Workshop, which was
on the topic of “Inter-state Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in
Southeast Asia”, held in Penang, Malaysia. The workshop, and subsequently
this book, looks at the management and resolution of inter-state conflicts
in Southeast Asia from different angles. It first raises the question of
whether the nature of the conflicts in the region today is still the same
as before or whether there is a now a new dimension to these conflicts.
This is due to the many changes that have affected the world in general
and the Southeast Asian region in particular. The workshop concluded that
these changes have had an influence on how conflicts in the region are
progressing and how new conflicts are emerging. This is also reflected
in the papers in this book.
The papers in this book also focus on the management and resolution strategies
and mechanisms that have been used to tackle inter state conflicts in the
region. Some of the papers argue that a rethinking of these strategies
and mechanisms is needed given the changed nature of many of these conflicts.
The roles of civil society, for example, have been highlighted as being
one of the important components of current and future conflict management
and resolution. There have also been a few case studies to highlight the
points made about the need for a rethink of conflict management and resolution
in the region. Among the case studies are bilateral disputes such as those
between Malaysia and Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, and Vietnam and the
PRC, as well as multilateral disputes like the one in the South China Sea.
Lastly, one paper also discusses the threat from militant groups and how
this is affecting the security of the region. The following is a summary
of some of the major points raised by the papers in the book.
The first chapter was by Amitav Acharya, titled, “Rethinking international
order after September 11: Some preliminary thoughts”. In this paper,
Acharya highlighted key areas in which the “post-September 11 era” challenges
our thinking about international order in the post-Cold War era. This,
he notes, has been brought about by trans-national terrorism and international
responses to it, which brings the whole security debate into question.
Acharya also laments the current global structure and said that proponents
of multilateralism will fear that the current uni-polar world situation
will result in global injustice, imperial arrogance, and instability that
results from reactions against it In the second chapter, Kamarulzaman notes
that security issues today are not what it used to be. Despite the lingering
inter-state issues, the more important ones these days are those that have
emanated from within the boundaries. He also claims that these form part
of the “non-traditional” security issues being faced by countries
of the region. The situation has also rendered less useful the management
strategies and mechanisms usually employed by Southeast Asian countries,
and especially by the ASEAN. This paper argues that this type of conflict
management strategy is not conducive for long-term peace in the region.
In fact, he claims that it will only result in short-term tension and long-term
instability. A rethinking of conflict management strategies is thus needed,
along with an investigation on the potential contributions of the civil
society in any new conflict management framework for Southeast Asia.
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