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This past weekend, Singaporeans reminded the Lee family and the People’s Action Party government that their support was not unconditional, ejecting Foreign Minister George Yeo from office.

With a vote swing of over 7 percent, the opposition was able to triple (from two to six seats) its representation in the heavily gerrymandered Parliament. Had the results been more reflective of underlying sentiment (popular votes) there would have been some 32 opposition lawmakers out of the total 82 seats at stake that day.

Tired of being berated and lectured at by the aging and insensitive Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, ordinary Singaporeans deserted the PAP in droves. Even the unprecedented apology by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over the PAP government’s previous mistakes did little to assuage the unhappiness. Moreover a combination of hyper-growth rates, inflation and mass immigration had conspired to depress living standards amid a sea of plenty.

For many Indonesians, the PAP’s management of the city-state is the beacon of Southeast Asian governance. They marvel at the superb infrastructure, the subsidized housing and public discipline. However, all politics is local. Singaporean voters don’t compare their lives to Jakartans or KL-ites. Instead, they’re fed up at the way they’ve become little more than mute observers at some bacchanalian feast of hedge-fund managers, private bankers and the super-rich. They retire to their modest, if well-maintained Housing Development Board flats while these global interlopers cavort in stunning waterfront residences on Sentosa Island. Comparisons are stark.

On the one hand they’re informed that they’re among the richest people in the world while on the other they’re exhorted to tighten their belts and work harder. The frustration is palpable — especially when voters ask the core question: “what’s in it for me?”

The same week, Jakarta was festooned with banners and flags celebrating the 18th Asean Summit. Leaders from 10 member states jetted in with their entourages for a succession of set-piece events and photo-ops. There’s been an attempt to drum up a modicum of public enthusiasm for Asean and the gathering. However, hordes of middle-aged men in suits thronging the JCC is not going to set Jakarta (let alone Southeast Asia) alight.

But this doesn’t mean Indonesians don’t support Asean. Of course, for Indonesia the G-20 membership is exciting and rewarding. Sitting at the global top table is an enthralling business. Nonetheless, one’s neighborhood remains the base of one’s power and influence.

Still, popular interest in Asean is limited and if one applies the all-powerful, formulation from the Singapore polls — the “what’s in it for me?” — it’s easy enough to understand the lackluster response.

Nonetheless, an unusual but engaging set of public billboards promoting Asean seems to address that rhetorical question. The images are cute: sepia-tinted photos of young people from each of the Asean countries wearing t-shirts emblazoned with their respective national flags (in full color).

Haphazardly posed, the images capture for once the real potential and excitement of Asean: it’s young people and their exuberance. At the same time, the photos also stress the underlying physical similarity in our appearance as ‘Asean-ies’ whether we’re from Mandalay, Haadyai or Semarang.

And since so many of us could easily swap countries without attracting much attention (except of course when we start talking) then it makes great sense for Asean to encourage the free and unfettered movement of peoples across its borders. Imagine the level of excitement and intra-Asean awareness if a university graduate from Hanoi or a son of a farmer from the Philippines’ Pampanga province could head off to Singapore, Bangkok, Surabaya or Penang to find work? If people could really be mobile, if job markets could be open, Asean would be boosted immeasurably. The potential is limitless.

The middle-aged men drafting their unread and unremarkable communiques should really be focusing on the cheeky and irreverent group images of Asean’s young people. These same diplomats need to ask the fundamental question that all voters and stakeholders always ask: ‘what’s in it for me?’ Only then — as they focus on the ‘real’ issue — will they find a path forward that will make Asean relevant to its near-silent 600 million total population.

An election in the smallest and yet richest Asean state can tell us something about how we should be preparing ourselves for the borderless future. Remember: “what’s in it for me?”

 

Karim Raslan is a columnist who divides his time between Malaysia and Indonesia .