FINAL EXAMINATIOAN

GEOPOLITICS

Submitted As One Of The Requirements For Completing The Final Exam

ASEAN regional cooperation in overcoming covid 19

By :

Suci Rahmadhani

1191004009
INTRODUCTION

At the end of 2019, China reported that a case of an outbreak of a new disease called the corona
virus, or what was later known as COVID-19, was found in Wuhan. The epidemic of this disease
continues to spread rapidly throughout the world, so that on March 11, 2020 the World Health
Organization (WHO) declared this disease a global pandemic. The rate of COVID-19 infection is
becoming increasingly alarming as the number of deaths increases over time. All countries in the
world are trying to do all they can to deal with this pandemic in order to break the chain of
spreading the virus and reduce the number of people exposed to it and the death toll. When this
pandemic occurs, we can see that developed countries, such as the United States and Britain,
seem overwhelmed to contain the spread of the virus and are unable to reduce the death toll.
Thus, the progress and wealth of a country does not guarantee success in overcoming the
COVID-19 attack.

The COVID-19 pandemic also shows that no country can handle a pandemic alone. International
cooperation is urgently needed for any country to fight this deadly virus. Countries in the
Southeast Asian region have also not escaped the attacks of the COVID-19 virus. The disease
outbreak has become one of the significant non-traditional security threats in the Southeast Asian
region. Countries in the Southeast Asian region immediately responded to the COVID-19 by
deciding the attitude and domestic policies of each country. The policies taken by each country
are different, some countries prefer lockdown policies such as those carried out by Malaysia,
Vietnam and the Philippines. There are also other countries that prefer social distancing policies
such as those carried out by Indonesia.

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) as a regional institution in Southeast Asia is

working together to fight COVID-19 which has yet to be resolved. All ASEAN member
countries have expressed concern over the spread of the virus which has resulted in the economy
of ASEAN member countries having slumped. To that end, ASEAN took action by proposing
regional cooperation in an effort to overcome this COVID-19 pandemic. ASEAN leaders have
made plans and discussed a number of policies that are part of ASEAN regional cooperation.
There are a number of policies that have been agreed upon with all ASEAN members and it is
hoped that these policies can help fellow members fight the COVID-19 virus. However, there are
a number of criticisms and challenges for ASEAN regional cooperation in dealing with this
COVID-19 pandemic.

(https://www.google.co.id/amp/s/m.bisnis.com/amp/read/20200310/12/1211681/hadapi-corona-
indonesia-ajak-negara-asean-kaji-dampak-ekonomi-ke-kawasan)
DISCUSSION

ASEAN Response to COVID-19

On April 14, 2020, Heads of State / Government of ASEAN member countries held a special
ASEAN Summit (Summit) on COVID-19 which was conducted via online video. The summit
was chaired by the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, in his capacity as Chair of
ASEAN this year (ASEAN Declaration 2020). This summit is held virtually by all ASEAN
members, bearing in mind that social distancing must be applied and besides that ASEAN
country leaders cannot meet in person at this summit meeting in order to avoid the spread of the
COVID-19 virus among state leaders. Furthermore, on the same day the ASEAN Plus Three
(APT) Summit was also held which was also held virtually, and was attended by the three
partner countries, namely, China, Japan and South Korea. The outcome of this virtual meeting is
a commitment to tackling the outbreak and preparing for post-outbreak recovery both socially
and economically.

Within ASEAN itself, the ten members agreed on several important points regarding the
handling of COVID-19, namely strengthening cooperation against COVID-19 by exchanging
information, best practices, developing research, developing epidemiology, and others.
Furthermore, providing protection for ASEAN citizens in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,
strengthening public communication and efforts to combat stigmatization and discrimination,
committing to taking collective action and coordinated policies to mitigate economic and social
impacts, the importance of a comprehensive approach that involves multi-stakeholders and
multi-sectorals, assigning ASEAN economic ministers to ensure supply chain connectivity so
that trade can continue, and supporting the reallocation of the ASEAN Trust Fund to tackle the
COVID-19 virus pandemic (Kompas 2020).

The leaders of ASEAN countries also decided to establish a regional fund to respond to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The establishment of a response fund (Respond Fund) aims to secure the
availability of essential medical supplies and equipment in the ASEAN region. The funds come
from reallocation of available funds and existing finances. Support from ASEAN partners, such
as ASEAN Plus Three, has also contributed to this funding. This fund is also accompanied by a
commitment to refrain from spending unnecessary funds on the flow of goods, especially
strategic items to combat COVID-19 such as medical, food and essential supplies (ASEAN
Declaration 2020).

(https://kompaspedia.kompas.id/baca/paparan-topik/strategi-asean-merespons-dampak-covid-19)

ASEAN Policy Challenges Against COVID-19

The lockdown policy that Singapore has taken seriously since the beginning of the country being
exposed to COVID-19 has been followed by a number of other ASEAN member countries, such
as the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam. As a result of this policy, significant disruption
occurred in the industrial sector. For decades, Southeast Asia has become a major export market
destination for oil and gas and non-oil and gas commodities for fellow ASEAN member
countries and this has become one of the sectors that has been severely disadvantaged from the
COVID-19 pandemic. With the COVID-19 pandemic, ASEAN regionalism is challenged and its
existence is questioned. The commitment of member countries and the influence of external
threats, especially the issue of non-traditional security threats to the COVID-19 pandemic,
appear as factors that influence the development of regionalism in the region. Since WHO
declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic, many critics have said that the response taken by
ASEAN is slow and seems to underestimate the spread of COVID-19 because the special
COVID-19 summit was only held after more than one month after WHO declared COVID-19 a
pandemic.

In addition, many ASEAN member countries lack valid information about this outbreak, which
raises uncertainty regarding the policies to be taken by all ASEAN member countries. After
WHO gave advice to trace every person who was confirmed COVID-19, finally they can take
domestic policies and report the number of citizens infected with COVID-19. Singapore and
Malaysia immediately track and report their citizens who have contracted COVID-19, followed
by Thailand and the Philippines. Meanwhile, Indonesia is late in confirming COVID-19 cases
among its citizens. A number of ASEAN member countries have taken different policies, such as
implementing regional lockdowns or carrying out large-scale social distancing. Differences in
mitigating COVID-19 are also visible, for example in Indonesia and Laos which formed a task
force to deal with the virus, while other countries chose to mobilize troops and policies to
enforce community compliance with quarantine (Djalante, et al. 2020).

Vietnam is one of the ASEAN member countries praised for having a good response in dealing
with COVID-19. However, there is also controversy in ASEAN regarding the actions of member
countries, between saving lives or saving conflicting economies. In addition, there are critics
who question whether any government can handle the virus fairly well and in a timely manner.
Conflicts of interest and different views in dealing with COVID-19 at various levels of domestic
government, such as in Indonesia, Cambodia and Myanmar, also create problems for ASEAN
leaders. Failure to communicate, values, political identities and weak mandates can undermine
efforts to achieve a collective crisis response. This shows the challenge for ASEAN leaders in
taking appropriate action in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

(http://berkas.dpr.go.id/puslit/files/info_singkat/Info%20Singkat-XII-7-I-P3DI-April-2020-
2092.pdf)
If ASEAN countries choose to carry out a lockdown, Indonesia chooses to carry out PSBB or
large-scale social restrictions or the term health quarantine in Indonesia which is defined as
"Restricting certain activities of the population in an area suspected of being infected with the
disease and / or

contaminated in such a way as to prevent the possibility of spreading the disease. PSBB is a type
of health quarantine in an area, apart from home quarantine, hospital quarantine, and regional
quarantine. The PSBB's objective is to prevent the spread of community health emergencies
(KKM) that is happening between people in a certain area. at least include school and work
vacations, restrictions on religious activities, and / or restrictions on activities in public places or
facilities. approval of the Minister of Health through a Ministerial Decree.

The groups of migrant workers in several ASEAN member countries seem to have received less
attention from the local government, so they are very vulnerable to being infected with COVID-
19. This can be found in Singapore with the increasing number of COVID-19 cases among
migrant workers. Meanwhile, ASEAN member countries prioritize their citizens over these
migrant workers. The establishment of the ASEAN response fund also did not escape criticism,
because it was considered not transparent and the funding was not well detailed. Therefore,
ASEAN must be more transparent about this funding and detail it properly. Some member
countries also experience difficulties in collaborating between institutions due to sectoral egos at
the government level. Hierarchical coordination, power struggles can also complicate an
effective response in dealing with COVID-19. Indeed, in ASEAN itself, there is a principle of
non-intervention that prevents every member from interfering in other countries regarding
policies on handling COVID-19. This alone has become a factor in the difficulty of unifying
against the COVID-19 pandemic between ASEAN countries. In addition, the lack of clarity and
information regarding the scale of the social and economic impacts in each ASEAN country has
an impact on the slow pace of collective action of the ASEAN region to overcome this COVID-
19 pandemic.

(https://www.google.co.id/amp/s/m.bisnis.com/amp/read/20200310/12/1211681/hadapi-corona-
indonesia-ajak-negara-asean-kaji-dampak-ekonomi-ke-kawasan)
There are several ASEAN strategies in dealing with the impact of Covid 19 :

1. Economic stimulus

ASEAN countries also responded to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic with various
economic policies. Until the end of July 2020, ASEAN policies in response to the impact of the
Covid-19 pandemic in the economic sector have been summarized into three groups, namely
economic stimulus, monetary and fiscal policies, and trade policies.The portrait of the policies of
ASEAN countries in launching various economic stimulus packages is summarized in ASEAN
Policy Brief 1 published in April 2020.

To mitigate the impact of Covid-19 in the economic sector, ASEAN countries have launched
various economic stimulus packages since February 2020. In general, the policies undertaken by
ASEAN countries can be classified into five things, first, tax incentives for affected businesses,
especially MSMEs. ; second, subsidies such as cash assistance, discounts on electricity bills, to
additional incentives for those working in the health sector; third, deferred tax or loan payments;
fourth, fee waivers or lower government fees; and fifth, the Central Bank implements a policy of
lowering interest rates and buys securities / government bonds.

In addition, there are also special policies taken by several ASEAN countries. Several countries
target the main sectors of society. Brunei allows the suspension of pension contributions while
Malaysia allows the reduction of pension contributions. On the other hand, Singapore has
suspended loans and school fees (student loan and charges). In addition, the banking sector in
Vietnam created a credit package worth 12.3 billion US dollars for business activities.

International financial institutions have also provided support for countries affected by the
Covid-19 pandemic. The IMF promised to increase the lending capacity for members to 1 trillion
US dollars. The IMF also promised to seek debt reduction for low-income countries through the
Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) program. In addition, the World Bank is
providing funds amounting to 160 billion US dollars for long-term financing over the next 15
months.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) also announced an aid package of US $ 6.5 billion to
support the Covid-19 crisis response. Several ASEAN countries that have received grant
approval from ADB are the Philippines and Indonesia. The Philippines launched a US $ 5
million Rapid Emergency Supplies Provision Project to provide temporary food assistance to
vulnerable households and workers in Luzon. Meanwhile, Indonesia utilized a US $ 3 million
grant to purchase essential medical equipment and supplies, such as ventilators and personal
protective equipment.

(https://www.cnbcindonesia.com/news/20200708202906-4-171284/tiga-negara-asean-bersatu-
hadapi-dampak-pandemi-covid-19)
ASEAN Policy Brief 1 also provides six policy recommendations for ASEAN member countries,
namely moving all available macro, financial and structural policy tools; maintaining productive
economic capacity; keep the supply chain going; take advantage of technology and digital
commerce; strengthening safety nets; increasing response to pandemics at the regional level; and
increasing determination to advance regional integration.

2. Health mitigation

Since the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ASEAN health sector has activated various
health cooperation mechanisms at the regional level to respond to Covid-19. To date, there are at
least twenty-seven existing ASEAN mechanisms and those that have recently been developed in
dealing with Covid-19.

Progress of the efforts that have been made by the ASEAN health sector, including sharing
information and experiences in handling Covid-19, including with ASEAN speech partners
through the ASEAN Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Network webinar platform, informing
each other in real time via short messages regarding cross travel suspect / patient confirmation
state limit; periodic reporting of Risk Assessment for International Dissemination of Covid-19
ASEAN Region through the ASEAN BioDiaspora Virtual Center; risk communication efforts
through the ASEAN Risk Assessment and Risk Communication Center; and support for
strengthening laboratory capacity

The ASEAN Emergency Operation Center Network for public health emergencies (ASEAN
EOC Network), with host Malaysia, provides each ASEAN country with daily developments
related to the situation and technical changes of Covid-19. The ASEAN EOC Network also
displays the latest developments in the Covid-19 situation in ASEAN on the ASEAN website.

The ASEAN BioDiaspora Virtual Center (ABVC), hosted by the Philippines, uses Big Data to
generate risk assessments and surveillance reports for Covid-19 disease. The first report was
published on 20 January 2020 and followed by subsequent reports three times a week.

The Thailand-led Regional Public Health Laboratories Network (RPHL) allows each ASEAN
member to access laboratory readiness, technical and material support, and laboratory experience
and supervision.

The ASEAN Risk Assessment and Risk Communication Center (ARARC) emphasizes the
importance of risk communication in managing public health emergencies. ARARC conducts
investigations into fake news and hoaxes related to Covid-19 and finds ways to reach out and
provide credible and timely information to the public in an effective manner.

(https://www.kompas.tv/article/76101/presiden-jokowi-ikuti-ktt-asean-khusus-dan-asean-plus-
three-COVID-19-berikut-hasil-pentingnya., 2020)
There are also various implementation strategies of a number of new initiatives, including the
establishment of the ASEAN Plus Three Pharmaceutical Industries Network, the development of
the ASEAN health protocol in the face of the New Normal era, the development of cross-border
contact tracing and rapid outbreak investigation protocol, and the establishment of the ASEAN
Plus Three Task Force on Pandemic.

New initiatives that have been agreed upon and in preparation for development include an
information platform for the public ASEAN Portal for Public Health Emergency; establishment
of the ASEAN Center for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases; preparation of a
multisectoral ASEAN Public Health Emergency Coordination System (APHECS); developing
the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework to prepare for the recovery of the region's
security and socio-economic conditions due to the impact of the pandemic; establishment of the
ASEAN Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies (RRMS) and the ASEAN Covid-19 Response
Fund to ensure the availability of essential medical devices and funds in emergency situations; as
well as the preparation of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Public Health Emergencies
so that there are uniform and standardized procedures for handling health emergencies.

The various strategies above emerged from a number of ASEAN meetings to cooperate and
exchange information related to handling Covid-19 in the health sector, including inviting
several dialogue partners, such as the US, China, Australia and the European Union.

One of them was the meeting of the Ministers of Health of ASEAN and the United States via
video conference on April 30, 2020. The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Health of
ASEAN member countries and the United States as well as the Secretary General of ASEAN.
The goal is to build ASEAN health cooperation with the United States in handling Covid-19.

The next meeting is a high-level meeting of ASEAN health officials via video conference on
July 22-23, 2020. The purpose of the meeting is to map and synergize a number of new
initiatives from health and non-health sectoral bodies that need to be followed up by ASEAN
health sectoral bodies as concrete efforts to deal with Covid- 19 in the ASEAN region.

Seeing the spread, the 10 countries in ASEAN began discussing Covid-19 as a crisis problem.
From existing data, there are nearly 20 thousand cases in ASEAN. So, on 14/04/2020, ASEAN
held a virtual meeting to discuss Covid-19. During the meeting at the ASEAN Summit, several
agendas were massive enough to be implemented in society.

(file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/TheASEANCOVID_May3_FINAL.pdf.)
The agenda is in the form of strengthening cooperation, protection for ASEAN citizens,
strengthening public communication, making coordinated actions and policies to motivate
economic and social impacts, ASEAN emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive approach
and involves stakeholders and multisectoral, supporting the relocation of the ASEAN trust fund.

Of course, many have been exposed to Covid-19 and ASEAN is moving quickly to overcome
this by making several agendas. However, from the problems that exist on an international scale,
ASEAN which uses the concept of non-intervention will find it difficult to create massive
cooperation.

This is evidenced by the existence of an ASEAN agenda which is only mediocre, such as the
exchange of information. For this reason, actually ASEAN's task is only diplomatically to
establish cooperation.

However, this collaboration did not have a major impact on Indonesian society. Its
implementation is not so implemented because ASEAN's weakness is only in dependence on
their respective governments. So, it is useless to have a stack of agendas just because they can be
implemented according to the conditions of each country. It is the formalities that exist in
ASEAN that are sometimes criticized.

CONCLUTION

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a significant non-traditional threat in various parts of the
world, including the Southeast Asia Region. ASEAN as the largest regional institution in the
region has agreed to work together to deal with COVID-19 by taking a number of policies for all
ASEAN members. However, in this cooperation there are a number of challenges, such as the
lack of information regarding the handling of COVID-19 received by ASEAN members, the
slow response of ASEAN in dealing with COVID-19, differences in policies taken by each
member country, and the non-transparency of the response funds established by ASEAN. In
addition, the lack of efforts to deal with the economic impacts arising from the COVID-19
pandemic and the difficulty of collaboration between institutions are also challenges for ASEAN
regional cooperation in efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. If all these obstacles to
regional cooperation can be overcome together, ASEAN will become a regional institution with
the 1potential to succeed in overcoming the COVID-19 virus through regional efforts. Even
though the potential exists, if the policies taken are not effective and efficient, the results will not
be optimal. Therefore, every ASEAN member must remain enthusiastic about working together
and helping each other, so that various joint efforts of member countries to combat the COVID-
19 outbreak can be successful and maximally successful.

1
(https://asean.org/declaration-special-asean-summit-coronavirus-disease-2019-COVID-19/.)