Joint Statement to ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting in The 43rd ASEAN Summit 2023 From The ASEAN People Centru

Going into the 43rd ASEAN Summit 2023 in Jakarta, civil society elements from no less than 40 groups across Southeast Asia and Indonesia joined hands thru a non-state regionalism called the ASEAN People Centrum to voice out deep concerns to ASEAN Leaders: We saw a growing discrepancy between the state-centric orientation of current state practices with the desired emancipated people-centric outlook as stipulated in the ASEAN Charter. We express our deep concern over the continuous signs of discrepancy between the rhetoric and products by ASEAN and the needs of people. ASEAN has grown more into an elitist and state centric rather than a people centered entity [31 August 2023].