ASEAN needs to work hard to maintain peace in region —Indonesia FM

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) needs to work hard to maintain peace in the region amid the ongoing conflict in different parts of the world, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Tuesday.

“We should be grateful for we have been blessed with peace and stability in the region for more than five decades. I think we shall never take peace for granted. Peace does not fall from the sky. We truly have to maintain it. ASEAN needs to work hard to maintain it especially now that the world is clearly not okay,” Marsudi said during the 7th ASEAN Media Forum.

She said that there is “sharpening major power rivalry, more divided world, food and energy crises, and continuing wars.”

Marsudi noted that ASEAN is also facing the issue with Myanmar which she described as regrettable because there has not been much progress in the implementation of the five-point consensus to address the crisis.

She stressed that ASEAN is not a perfect association but it plays a very key role in maintaining peace, stability, and prosperity in the region.

“Can you imagine the Southeast Asia Region without ASEAN?” she said.

Marsudi lamented that stories of peace were less frequently told or publicized that stories of conflict and war.

“Sometimes, ASEAN’s imperfection makes better headlines than its many, many achievements. We can’t expect ASEAN to be what it is not,” she said.

“But one thing is for sure, ASEAN has made significant contributions to the peace, stability, and prosperity in the region,” she further said.

Marsudi also said that ASEAN posed a central role in maintaining Southeast Asia as an epicentrum of growth. —KG, GMA Integrated News