ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is a system that integrates the economical condition of ASEAN by making a free trading system between nine ASEAN countries. The member of ASEAN including Indonesia agreed about this economical engagement. The initiative of establishing AEC arouse in the 1997 ASEAN High Level Conference (KTT) that was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The leaders of ASEAN decided to make some alteration to increase the economical condition of ASEAN countries which the purpose is to create a prosperous and stable economical condition as well as to decrease poverty in each country.
Then, in the 2003 ASEAN High Level Conference that was held in Bali, Indonesia, the deputy of each country declared their opinion that ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) would be a goal of regional economy in 2020. After that, in the Economic Minister Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, August 2006, Malaysia agreed to modernize the AEC to have an explicit and organized target in its implementation.
in 12th KTT ASEAN in January 2007, the deputies confirmed their commitment about releasing the AEC and transform ASEAN to be an trading area of that free to get commodity, invest, financial capital, employees, service, and many others. But, in order to build something like that it must take a good relations, not only between the countries, but also between the international citizenships. By a system that called International Citizen Approachment, Hedley Bull (1969:20) explain “International Citizen Approachment come from philosophy, history, and law and identified, especially for dependence in real judgment implementation”. For example, in a real case, during the Cold War between U.S.A and Uni Soviet international citizenship reducted to be doesn't know much more than one system where the foreign policy each side based on its calculate about the destiny and the capability of the other side, especially on nuclear weapon. But, after the Cold War is over, the Uni Soviet wreath a friendly relations with international organizations like G-8, OECD, IMF, EBRD, OSCE, and NATO. In order to do that matter, Uni Soviet should have to accept the collective importance, obey the value and importance obligation the international organizations.
From that case, we can take that to the AEC program, as a international policy, every country that mixed up with it must be respectful between each other. Each country must give precedence to the collective importance above the self-importance. If each country could do this matter, it's not only a dream anymore to build an international free trading area. Not only free trading area that can be got, but also respectfully, peace, and freedom in ASEAN area.
Every new wisdom, it must have a pro – contra and also positive – negative impact to the reality, as a college student, we should have a role to facing that condition. For example, we should to have increase our quality in everything, such as creativity, enterpreneurship, sociality, and many others, because we must compete with another college student, not only Indonesian college student, but also many other college student from different ASEAN countries member . If we can compete with another foreign student, a local and foreign business will look at us to get their employees, and they would invest a stock to our country. Or if you would to study abroad, so many universities would give us a schoolarship with a pleasure.
And as a college student, what the benefit that could we get if we take a role in this matter? There are so many profit that can we get, and I think there isn't reason to not join with this matter. As I said before, if we can compete with this, so many business and university from many countries would offer a great job or schoolarship, and I conclude that isn't just a wish anymore, we can realize it.
Not only that, as a youth generation, we also must take a role to socialize this condition to the inhabitants to prepare them in order to brace them in this strict competition, because its not only college student that sense the impact of AEC but also the citizens too, especially global citizenship. If we socialize this, hopefully they could increase their quality too, in order to facing the economical impact from AEC, because of free trading situation.
Because if they can't compete with the others, there's so many loss that surely sense the citizens and also the country from many other side, such as
1. Competition Side
The competition would growing higher and higher in each time, with so many imported commodity, threat te local industry, if the local industry can't increase their quality, the country economical condition would be loss.
2. Exploitation Side
Exploitation with a big big scale by the foreign business could impair the natural ecosystem, because of that, every country must reinforce the invest regulation, to keep controlling the exploitation by the others.
3. The Employment Side
It could be seen by the quality of education and productivity of each countries. If the country could give the best quality to the international citizenship by education and productivity sides, I ensure the country could minimize the unempoyement. But in other way, if we lose on competing, it's difficult to get a prosperous lifetime.
But, in other side, if our country and citizenship could compete and adapt with AEC, the economical situation is on our hand, we can handle it in order to get prosperous living, peaceful, and minimize the unempoyement, and also interest global citizenship to come to our country to invest a stock, or just visit to spend their time.
So, we can conclude that the destiny of AEC is not only build a free trading areas, but also a freedom, peaceful, prosperous area, and respectful between each countries, its conclude in the AEC destiny by implicity.
-Syukron Subkhi
Mahasiswa Ilmu Hubungan Internasional UPN Veteran Yogyakarta
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