By Dr Kalinga Seneviratne

Three years ago after I made a presentation to a meeting of the Committee on Culture and Information of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) and was introduced bas a Sri Lankan born Australian media consultant, a senior official from the Philippines
information ministry came smiling to me at the tea break and said: “When we were told at the last meeting that an Australian consultant
will be reviewing our media exchange programs and  making recommendations, many of us were not happy and did not want an Australian to tell us what to do. But we did not realize that this Australian was one of us”.

I have been living and working in Singapore for more than a decade now
and have traveled to all the 10 ASEAN countries both as part of my
work and for leisure, and often wondered why Sri Lanka did not accept
the invitation to join ASEAN when it was formed over 40 years ago.

I have noted that Sri Lankans could fit very well into the ASEAN
community framework. When I used to teach at a polytechnic in
Singapore I often attended ASEAN media forums and felt very much at
home. Last year I was tasked with officially welcoming all the
participants to the first ASEAN Media Forum organized by my current
employer, the Singapore based Asian Media Information and
Communication Centre (AMIC). I don’t think anyone there saw me as an
outsider.

Why cannot Sri Lanka seek to become a member of ASEAN, the regional
body that is driving the Asian agenda in the 21st century? Even New
Zealand, which is a complete outsider both in terms of geography and
culture, is an official dialogue partner of ASEAN while Sri Lanka,
which has had strong historic connections with the region is left out.

I understand that Sri Lanka declined the invitation to join ASEAN in
the 1960s because the then Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake felt that
it was a body formed to oppose Chinese influence in the region and he
did not want to jeopardize Sri Lanka’s close relations with China.
Today it is no more the case, and ASEAN has been instrumental in
forging the new East Asia Summit framework and the ASEAN plus 3
grouping with the main aim of getting China closely involved in the
economic development of the region.

Half the membership of ASEAN has close historical cultural connection
with Sri Lanka. Recently I made a 90 minute documentary for the
Singapore based Institute of Southeast Asian Studies titled the “Path
of the Dhamma” (which was  screened on MTV 1 on Veask Day this year in
Sri Lanka) which reflects these historic links. It was the writing of
the ‘Tripitaka’ at Aluvihara in Sri Lanka that was instrumental in the
spread of Buddhism to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and even to
Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Especially in Thailand,
Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, and among the Buddhists in Indonesia, I
found that Sri Lanka is held in high esteem.

Yet, there is also another disturbing aspect I noted during my travels
and meetings with people across the region in the past few years.
Their positive historic view of Sri Lanka has been somewhat smudged by
the international media coverage of the civil war in the island, which
as we know has been largely one-sided and influenced by LTTE diaspora
propaganda networks. Unfortunately Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions in
the region haven’t been able to counter this negative perception of
modern day Sri Lanka among the local media and the people.

This would be an ideal time for Sri Lanka to consider making a move to
seek membership of ASEAN. True, Sri Lanka is a  member of the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and has played a
leading role in promoting regional economic and cultural cooperation.
Yet, SAARC is bogged down mainly due to India’s size and the
India-Pakistan rivalry. I feel in the South East Asian region SAARC is
not taken that seriously precisely because of these reasons. When
ASEAN wants to engage South Asia they will invite India only, and
others will be left out – like how India was co-opted into the East
Asia Summit framework. In turn, India does not seem to make any
attempt at all to bring along its SAARC members into these regional
frameworks.

Putting all its eggs on the SAARC basket risks Sri Lanka being left
out in the evolving Asian regional frameworks, which could become the
global power base for international cooperation in the 21st century.
Within SAARC any Sri Lankan initiative which may not be to the liking
of India could be easily scuttled by India’s enormous power, but,
ASEAN does not have such a big dominant power within its membership,
and as a member Sri Lanka could get a better hearing not only within
ASEAN region, but also in East Asia in general.

Becoming a member of ASEAN would also give Sri Lanka a sort of an
insurance policy against unwelcomed Indian interference in the
internal affairs of the country. Good indication is how ASEAN as a
grouping has stood behind fellow member Myanmar in the midst of
attacks against its regime by western governments and International
NGOs. Today, even the Obama administration is taking a leaf out of
ASEAN’s method of constructive engagement with the Myanmar regime and
have started to talk to the generals in Yangoon.

The biggest gain Sri Lanka stands to benefit from membership of ASEAN
is easier access to trading and investments opportunities in the
region. The ASEAN region as a whole is bigger than the European
Community (EU) in terms of population, and its economic clout and
market potential is fast expanding to match that of Europe. This is
the time to get a foot hole into one of the world’s most attractive
destination for investment and trade.

Sri Lanka’s educational and social indexes are more in harmony with
that of most ASEAN member states, which will make it easier to
integrate economically and even socially to the region. Thus there is
more room for two-way people-to-people interaction in the economic,
social, political and cultural spheres. I can assure you that Sri
Lankans will be welcomed where ever you go in the ASEAN region, as I
have found in my interaction with people in ASEAN countries in the
past decade.

In the cultural sphere, I feel Sri Lanka’s media and educational
institutions could play a leading role in establishing cooperation in
terms of media and educational exchanges, especially at tertiary
level. With the Buddhist members of ASEAN such as Thailand, Myanmar,
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as with Singapore, there is a lot
of scope to develop regular exchange programs in media and cultural
contents. There are tertiary institutions in Singapore, Malaysia,
Thailand and the Philippines with whom Sri Lankan institutions could
have closer links. Many of these institutions are on par with similar
ones in the West and these countries are now becoming regional
educational hubs and Sri Lanka unfortunately is been left out.

Seeking membership of ASEAN is not an impossible task for Sri Lanka,
but, it will be tough to convince that Sri Lanka is part of the
Southeast Asian region, to people whose regional perspective has been
shaped by the western media today. A perception that is shaped by
geography and western interests, rather than historical facts.
Historical facts however show that Sri Lanka has been part and parcel
of the region for centuries. For example, Sri Lankan architects played
a leading role in helping to build Thailand’s first capital Sukothai
in the 13th century.

Today we need architects of another kind to re-establish Sri Lanka’s
close links with the region which would include a high profile
diplomatic campaign. In the caliber of President Mahinda Rajapakse,
Prof G.L Peiris, Dr Palitha Kohona and many others, we have the talent
to succeed in such an endeavour if we want to.

The rest of SAARC should not see Sri Lankan membership of ASEAN as a
slap in the face for South Asian regional cooperation. With Sri Lanka
inside ASEAN it will be the ideal bridge for greater cooperation
between South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia. India may not be the
country to do this because it has greater ambitions of being a global
power.

(END)

* Dr Kalinga Seneviratne is a journalist, television documentary
maker, media analyst and an international communications specialist
currently based in Singapore.