Pros and Cons of 2015 ASEAN Integration towards Cambodia
ASEAN is an acronym for Association of South East Asia Nation, whose members are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. The ASEAN Secretariat is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Originally established on 8 August, 1967, ASEAN aims at accelerating economic growth, social progress, cultural development amidst its members, protection of religion peace and stability, and opportunities for member countries to deliberate differences peacefully (Roadmap for an ASEAN Community, 2009). In order to achieve these objectives, ASEAN Community, formed by 2015, will be based on three principle pillars, namely ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (Roadmap for an ASEAN Community, 2009). However, there has been a controversial issue with respect to disadvantages and advantages of the 2015 ASEAN Integration towards less developed member countries. Specifically, I am going to discuss both pros and cons of the integration towards Cambodia.
To begin with, Cambodia will be certainly able to stimulate its tourism industry by means of the integration. In my opinion, since the ten nations become one, it will be more accessible for people in ASEAN countries to travel everywhere across the region without applying for visas. Consequently, there will inevitably be a large number of regional tourists traveling across the community.
Based on ASEAN Socio-Cultural Blueprint (2009), another advantage Cambodia shall gain from the integration is educational enhancement. In the first place, Cambodia will improve the quality and adaptability of education, including technical/vocational/skills training education, for there will be a technical assistance program, including training for teaching staff and staff exchange program at higher education level. Additionally, Cambodia students shall receive more ASEAN scholarship programs through this policy. In addition to educational enhancement, Cambodian universities, students and staffs will be supported, in close collaboration with the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and the ASEAN University Network (AUN), through student and staff exchanges and professional interactions, including creating research clusters amidst ASEAN institutions of higher learning.
The other advantage of ASEAN integration towards Cambodia is that Cambodian people are able to promote Khmer culture to other country members. Grounded on ASEAN Socio-Cultural Blueprint (2009), by 2015 ASEAN will raise awareness amongst its members regarding the understanding of ASEAN and a sense of community. By doing this, Cambodians will be given an opportunity to conduct cultural activities in order to promote cultural awareness among the region.
Notwithstanding the benefits, the 2015 ASEAN Integration will also provide Cambodia with some drawbacks in terms of economic and social issues.
To start with, economically speaking, Cambodia will lose its revenues from taxation in product importation. In terms of exportation, Cambodia does not export many products to other ASEAN countries. However, Cambodian consumption relies greatly on foreign products, whose exporting countries are legally obligated to pay taxes that will go to the national budgets. Nevertheless, according to ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint (2009), once established, ASEAN community will implement Free Flow of Goods policy, which means there will be a removal of tariffs. Consequently, Cambodia will not receive taxes from importation, resulting in a loss of economic benefit.
With respect to the Free Flow of Skilled Labor policy, Cambodian skilled workers will have difficulty in finding jobs both locally and regionally. It is claimed in the ASEAN Economic Community blueprint (2009) that ASEAN countries are going to facilitate the issuance of visas and employment passes for ASEAN professionals and skilled labor who are engaged in cross-border trade and investment-related activities, meaning skilled workers across ASEAN will be legally able to work in Cambodia freely. Nonetheless, this policy will not benefit Cambodia skilled laborer owing to the fact that human resources in the country is still limited, and thus are not yet able to compete in the job markets with other skilled laborers.
The last drawback of the integration towards Cambodia is that there will be social issues happening in both Phnom Penh and other provinces. Firstly, regarding traffic in Phnom Penh, in the present, as we could see, traffic congestion occurs practically everywhere, which results from inadequate and narrow roads. Pessimistically speaking, that millions of ASEAN people are to travel freely across the region by 2015 will be a question for Cambodia to figure out what to do with the traffic problems in the city. Secondly, being able to travel to other ASEAN nations without applying for visas, Cambodian rural people will probably travel to other countries, such Thailand and Indonesia easily, which will give rise to the lack of labor force. There will be not adequate people, but many children and old people left in the rural areas, thus affecting some agricultural cultivation that needs people to work for.
Taking everything into consideration, I am convinced the disadvantages of ASEAN Community Integration will outweigh its advantages towards Cambodia in terms of economic loss, inauspicious job market competitiveness, and soon-effecting social problems. However, I do believe that, with these inevitable challenges, Cambodian youth shall be encouraged to understand much more about their roles in the integration so that they could prepare themselves from today on.