Management and Resolution of Inter-State Conflicts in Southeast Asia

Edited: Kamarulzaman Askandar

Foreword

Inter state conflicts still present a threat to the stability and security of the Southeast Asian region today. Despite efforts to reduce the intensity of “hot spots” in the area, the region is still facing destabilizing conflicts. This situation has been exacerbated by the “war on terrorism” led by the United States since the September 11 incident. Among the implications of this policy is the intensification of activities against groups classified as terrorist groups, as well as the strengthening of regimes in their battles against these groups. This has resulted in many observers concluding that the many hot spots in the region will become even hotter.

Different countries have tried to address the situation differently according to the needs and demands they faced from within as well as international pressures. Mechanisms, both internal and international, have been introduced to tackle and resolve these conflict situations. Over the years new challenges have arisen that calls into question these mechanisms and tested their effectiveness. The region has also seen changes, both within the boundaries of individual nations as well as globally. For instance, it has seen the changing of the structure of the power balance in the world system; the move from bilateralism to unilateralism; the “end of history” to the “clash of civilisation” to the “war against terrorism”; the euphoria of the expansion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the nineties replaced by the reality of propping up poorer and weaker countries; leadership changes within each country and the “new” way of thinking of these new leaders, subscribing less to the old school of thoughts of those leaders that grew up and matured with ASEAN; conflicts created and then avoided, contained, or settled, but rarely resolved; some conflicts lingering on while others escalated; economic recession and depression; prospects for the “deepening” of the ASEAN hampered by the economic crisis which forced the countries to focus on their own interests and survival as nation-states instead of enhancing cooperation and collaboration with each other, either bilaterally or under the ASEAN umbrella. All these have influenced the thinking about conflict prevention, management, and resolution in the region.

It is a fact that there needs to be a more complete and comprehensive approach to addressing the conflicts in Southeast Asia. There has been a lot “of peace” work done, albeit quietly, to transform the situation in Southeast Asia. Among the organizations that have been working to promote peaceful values and a more objective way of looking at and analyzing conflict is the Southeast Asian Conflict Studies Network (SEACSN). The SEACSN is a network of individuals and institutions in Southeast Asia working to promote research in the fields of peace studies and conflict resolution. It was formally set up in 2001, although members of the network have been working closely with each other on various projects for many years before that. Among activities organized by the network include national and regional workshops, seminars, training programs, as well as research and exchange programs. There have been a number of regional workshops on the topics of “Ethnic and Religious Conflicts”, “Culture and Conflict Resolution”, “Public Policy Conflict Management”, “Inter-state conflicts and Conflict Resolution”, and “Development Related Conflicts”. The national workshops, organized by the national coordinators of SEACSN, have focused on various themes including issues and challenges for conflict resolution, peace education, the role of civil society in conflict resolution, and peace advocacy.

This book is the result of the 4th SEACSN Regional Workshop, which was on the topic of “Inter-state Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in Southeast Asia”, held in Penang, Malaysia. The workshop, and subsequently this book, looks at the management and resolution of inter-state conflicts in Southeast Asia from different angles. It first raises the question of whether the nature of the conflicts in the region today is still the same as before or whether there is a now a new dimension to these conflicts. This is due to the many changes that have affected the world in general and the Southeast Asian region in particular. The workshop concluded that these changes have had an influence on how conflicts in the region are progressing and how new conflicts are emerging. This is also reflected in the papers in this book.

The papers in this book also focus on the management and resolution strategies and mechanisms that have been used to tackle inter state conflicts in the region. Some of the papers argue that a rethinking of these strategies and mechanisms is needed given the changed nature of many of these conflicts. The roles of civil society, for example, have been highlighted as being one of the important components of current and future conflict management and resolution. There have also been a few case studies to highlight the points made about the need for a rethink of conflict management and resolution in the region. Among the case studies are bilateral disputes such as those between Malaysia and Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, and Vietnam and the PRC, as well as multilateral disputes like the one in the South China Sea. Lastly, one paper also discusses the threat from militant groups and how this is affecting the security of the region. The following is a summary of some of the major points raised by the papers in the book.

The first chapter was by Amitav Acharya, titled, “Rethinking international order after September 11: Some preliminary thoughts”. In this paper, Acharya highlighted key areas in which the “post-September 11 era” challenges our thinking about international order in the post-Cold War era. This, he notes, has been brought about by trans-national terrorism and international responses to it, which brings the whole security debate into question. Acharya also laments the current global structure and said that proponents of multilateralism will fear that the current uni-polar world situation will result in global injustice, imperial arrogance, and instability that results from reactions against it In the second chapter, Kamarulzaman notes that security issues today are not what it used to be. Despite the lingering inter-state issues, the more important ones these days are those that have emanated from within the boundaries. He also claims that these form part of the “non-traditional” security issues being faced by countries of the region. The situation has also rendered less useful the management strategies and mechanisms usually employed by Southeast Asian countries, and especially by the ASEAN. This paper argues that this type of conflict management strategy is not conducive for long-term peace in the region. In fact, he claims that it will only result in short-term tension and long-term instability. A rethinking of conflict management strategies is thus needed, along with an investigation on the potential contributions of the civil society in any new conflict management framework for Southeast Asia.