ASEAN will never be a reputable organization as long as it tries to please everyone. Such efforts represent “lukewarm commitments to international law and order”-neither cold nor hot-which purposefully advance nothing to avoid angering any sides. In the end, ASEAN’s timidity leads to one of two possible ends: continued warfare, tensions and the absence of a lasting peace or worse, the achievement of peace through war where military might always makes right.
YOUK CHHANG
Director, Documentation Center of Cambodia
Ref: ‘Our friends must not misunderstand this’: Anwar rejects claims of meddling in Thailand-Cambodia border dispute (CNA: November 23, 2025)
