"Breaking Barriers: Paving Towards a Borderless ASEAN by 2020 "

 

This year's theme is influenced by the integration of Member States within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

 

In accordance with the conventional process of regional integration, it is imperative for Member States to pool certain sovereignties or dimensions of its national power in order to afford a greater, more expansive power in the regional level. However, this could mean various challenges to Member States. For example, there could be challenges to a common market and currency, challenges to standardized education and transportation policies, challenges to a visa-free travel, challenges to ASEAN leadership and legitimacy, and many more.

 

A borderless ASEAN may seam surreal and whimsical especially to a group of nations which have bound themselves with traditional lines of geopolitics and colonial imprint. We have problems of transnational crime and terrorism, political dynasties and corruption, language and cultural barriers, environmental degradation, and the so-called ASEAN WAY of non-intervention. But every integration, every success of a democratic organization is started, and fueled by a dream. As students of international studies here in Mindanao, we want to be at the forefront of discussing, sharing, and making this dream happen.

 

The moment that we break these barriers is the moment that we pave the road towards an ASEAN that is not constricted by geographical, political, economic, and even cultural borders. The Mindanao International Studies Society hopes to project a vision of growth and development in the Southeast Asian region by 2020 through its twelfth annual convention. It is in 2020 that we aspire to connect the avenues in the ASEAN and in the Philippines and ultimately back home, here in Mindanao.