Asean faces a critical challenge in engaging younger generations across Southeast Asia, according to Lee Yoong Yoong, a strategic advisor at the Asean Governors and Mayors Forum United Cities and Local Government Asia Pacific. Despite nearly six decades of regional cooperation, Asean struggles to connect with young people who live and breathe the region’s cultural and economic dynamism but rarely identify with the organisation itself.
Lee’s observations stem from a recent conversation with a longtime acquaintance engaged in education and youth development, who succinctly described Asean as “not cool.” While initially taken as a critique, Lee suggests this reflects a broader issue: Asean’s messaging remains entrenched in technical jargon and official documents that fail to resonate with everyday experiences and aspirations of youth.
Established in 1967, Asean has made significant strides in regional peace, economic integration, and disaster management. Yet, its presence is largely confined to government circles and seldom features in daily discourse among young Southeast Asians. Many born after 2000 have never known a Southeast Asia without Asean institutions, crossing borders freely, consuming each other’s cultures, and participating in shared economic and social activities. However, these individuals seldom associate these lived experiences with a regional identity tied to Asean.
According to Lee, the solution does not lie in policy overhaul but in transforming how Asean tells its story. By shifting focus from bureaucratic language to human interest narratives, Asean can better illustrate how its initiatives impact youth’s everyday lives—whether through education, entrepreneurship, environmental efforts, or regional mobility. For example, the Digital Economy Framework Agreement could be framed as enabling young programmers to develop applications that serve customers across Southeast Asia. Likewise, climate cooperation could be spotlighted through stories of volunteers restoring mangroves or innovators advancing clean technologies.
Lee advocates for embedding Asean more deeply into civic education and local conversations, encouraging national and local governments, schools, businesses, artists, and media to foster a sense of regional belonging. Drawing a parallel to Europe, where the European Union frequently features in public discussion, Lee argues that while Asean’s model of integration differs, it should not remain invisible beyond official channels.
The forthcoming Asean Community Vision (ACV) 2045 presents an opportunity to cultivate a shared narrative centered on the realities and hopes of today’s youth. Lee emphasises that building a strong Asean identity will require efforts beyond the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta, extending across all 11 member states, including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
Ultimately, Lee posits that the success of Asean in the coming decades will be measured not by the adoption of new regional visions, but by whether young Southeast Asians can embrace an identity that complements their national pride with a confident declaration: “I am also proud to be Asean.”