ASEAN, explained.
Getting the keys (Singapore Institute of International Affairs, via ASEAN Secretariat)
Its most enduring achievement would be a rule on who may act when consensus cannot be reached in time.
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Singapore’s job as ASEAN chair: fixing how the grouping decidesSingapore’s job as ASEAN chair: fixing how the grouping decides
ASEAN marks its 60th anniversary in 2027, with Singapore to assume the rotating chair. The agenda is already crowded. The regional grouping has adopted a Community Vision 2045, admitted Timor-Leste (Opens in new window) and upgraded key trade agreements (Opens in new window). There is also strife. ASEAN declined to endorse (Opens in new window) Myanmar’s January election, and Naypyidaw said (Opens in new window) it sees no need for a special envoy once Singapore takes the chair. The Thai–Cambodian peace accord signed in Kuala Lumpur failed (Opens in new window) within weeks (Opens in new window) and the South China Sea code of conduct remains unfinished (Opens in new window). The energy shock from the Gulf (Opens in new window) has strained every member’s reserves.
Much of this has left the organisation's reputation in the lurch. Respondents to the ISEAS State of Southeast Asia 2026 survey (Opens in new window) again named ASEAN’s main weakness: slow and ineffective.
True to its reputation, when Singapore takes the chair, expect comprehensive preparation and concrete deliverables. When last in the job in 2018, Singapore launched the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (Opens in new window) and advanced cyber norms, while taking a measured line (Opens in new window) on the South China Sea. In 2007, its chairman’s statement (Opens in new window) expressed revulsion at Myanmar’s crackdown, though little action followed.
ASEAN can mobilise within hours, yet it cannot decide within days.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has named two priorities for 2027: a real single market and broader external partnerships. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan wants to combine members’ strengths in energy and technology, and keep ASEAN from becoming a platform for great-power competition (Opens in new window). The ASEAN Power Grid (Opens in new window) will be central. Most usefully, Singapore and Thailand, the 2028 chair, have agreed a joint multi-year agenda (Opens in new window). Two years gives complex reforms a chance to survive the handover.
Members want progress in four areas.
Energy first: leaders urged ratification (Opens in new window) of the ASEAN Petroleum Security Agreement, yet fuel-sharing remains voluntary (Opens in new window). A tested, working mechanism would leave the region readier for the next shock.
Second, the digital economy agreement is due for signing (Opens in new window) in November; 2027 is about implementation, with Timor-Leste in from the start.
Third, scams: 51.4% (Opens in new window) of ISEAS survey respondents named the criminal centres in the region as a main concern, and crackdowns in one country have only pushed networks next door (Opens in new window).
Fourth, Myanmar. Balakrishnan has set three conditions: the violence stops, political prisoners are released, and aid gets through. Whatever benchmarks leaders adopt in Manila this November, Singapore should set dates: a verified halt to airstrikes and a named list of prisoners agreed with the United Nations by mid-2027, with non-political representation extended to ministerial meetings if the dates pass. Thailand, which favours re-engagement with Myanmar, will resist. That argues for settling the dates now, while the two chairs write their shared agenda.
Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has named two priorities for 2027: a real single market and broader external partnerships (Violaine Martin/WIPO)
My view is that ASEAN’s crisis problem is delegation. It can mobilise within hours, yet it cannot decide within days. After the Myanmar earthquake in March 2025, the AHA Centre had a team on the ground within 24 hours (Opens in new window), yet it could only support a junta-led response while the military kept fighting elsewhere (Opens in new window). On the Thai-Cambodian border, ASEAN’s observers withdrew to a safe zone (Opens in new window). Speed was never the issue. Authority was.
Armies solved this long ago with mission command: leaders fix the intent in advance, and those closest to the problem act within it. ASEAN leaders should set their intent calmly and let others act on it.
The Charter (Opens in new window) already offers a way through. Article 20 lets the Summit decide how to decide when consensus fails. Singapore should use its anniversary summit to table one consensus decision that does five things.
First, set objective triggers: a declared disaster above an agreed threshold, or the collapse of an ASEAN-brokered ceasefire. Second, once a trigger is met, let the Secretary-General and the AHA Centre release pre-positioned relief stocks and pre-earmarked standby modules, up to an agreed ceiling, for 72 hours without first convening ministers. Third, renew that authority by silence. It continues unless a member objects within 24 hours. Consensus survives, but a holdout must say no openly instead of letting the clock run out. Fourth, have every member pre-sign a template access agreement for ASEAN and the United Nations. The Tripartite Core Group (Opens in new window) that opened access after Cyclone Nargis was negotiated after the storm, but the next one should already exist on paper. Fifth, rehearse it. ASEAN drafts statements in peacetime; it should practise decisions too, with a 90-minute crisis scenario at every leaders’ retreat. NATO has rehearsed crisis decisions across its capitals (Opens in new window) since 1992 without deploying a single soldier.
Singapore hosted the signing of the ASEAN Charter in 2007. Twenty years on, it will almost certainly deliver a well-run year. The braver test is whether, at 60, ASEAN leaves that year able to act before the next crisis outruns consensus.
About the author
Prathap Latchmanan
Prathap Latchmanan served 19 years in the Singapore Armed Forces, leaving in August 2026 as a Lieutenant Colonel and Head of Joint Training Plans Branch.
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