POLITICS

Governments have rather big influences on a country, how they control it, etc. makes a difference to the country itself.

Starting with ASEAN! The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, also known as ASEAN, was formed on 8 August, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand. It is currently an organisation of the 10 countries of Southeast Asia, hence its flag.

The flag has a blue background with 10 paddy or rice stalks in the middle of a red circle. The 10 stalks of paddy represent the 10 Southeast Asian countries in ASEAN.

Brunei joined ASEAN on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Laos and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.

The ASEAN declaration states that the aims and purposes of the organisation, in other words, the objectives are:

[1] To accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region

[2] To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter

The ASEAN Vision 2020 agreed on a shared vision of ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies.

Now that’s where I am going to stop. There’s a lot to talk about ASEAN and it’s not very practical for me to just type and paraphrase everything from their website since it would be easier for anyone to just go to their website. Plus, they would have a better organisation of information:

http://www.aseansec.org/

That’s the website. Click on the link if you want.