The covid-19 pandemic has made many disasters in our economy, in all over 11 ASEAN members. This condition will be really dangerous for ASEAN when we are ready to compete economically within the scope of a trade agreement with China (ACFTA), etc. If the economy got stuck, we will only be a consumer without producing any products. So, here are my suggestions based on the ASEAN framework of cooperation

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was planned to be implemented in 2015. But, not all of the missions have been implemented 100%. 

a.    ASEAN was not 100% integrated into the global economy. So, making any other trade agreements is very important with another country. 

b.   Then, the competitiveness is still low. It is very important to develop investment among ASEAN members, and import and export more. As we know, there are still many countries that are still closing their economy and market for foreign products and investments, because of many reasons, including ideology, religious, and also cultural reasons.

ASEAN members should make a visa-free policy to study. If that is so, there will be many people in Southeast-Asian region that will study abroad, and the economy in each country will run automatically faster and faster. This is about ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

Regarding ACFTA (ASEAN China Free Trade Agreement), it is not fair if it will be about trade only. Because China will be more advantaged with this agreement. ASEAN should copy China’s technology, also regarding covid-19 prevention and tech acceleration that the western countries still do not have. China is developing many great leaps forward in technology, such as digital currency, the Internet of things (IoT), 5G communication, and many more.

Regarding ASEAN-ROK cooperation 2021-2025, there is one thing that I would like to suggest and criticize. That is e-government cooperation. Many ASEAN countries are still failing in implementing e-government systems, such as Indonesia and many low-middle income countries. Even though, e-government is very important to develop an economy that has been impacted a lot by the pandemic. E-government can make the governmental process easier, cheaper, and more developed. In fact, in Indonesia alone, some people still choose to do governmental things conventionally, just because of a lack of socialization and the complicatedness of the e-governmental systems.

Increase the number of vaccine projects all over ASEAN member countries. As we know, the more people got vaccinated, the more resilient people are to being infected by covid-19. So, people's mobility can be easily spread without any restrictions that can still prevent economic recovery. The ASEAN vaccine project is developed in Singapore only. That means, is it sufficient to vaccinate all people in ASEAN? Investment in vaccination is a must in all ASEAN member countries. Therefore, ASEAN member countries should make first, second, and booster vaccinations an obligation for people.

Regarding The ASEAN – Pacific Alliance Framework for Cooperation, there is still one thing that must be added, which is tourism. Because one of the things that can make economic development rapid is tourism. There are still very few amounts of tourists from the Pacific region who come to ASEAN Countries, and vice versa. Even though ASEAN countries have many places to be visited and it can run the economy and investment faster.

However, those movements are not helpful without covid-19 prevention, that is vaccination. As I mentioned before, each ASEAN member should make vaccination mandatory for covid-19. To make it easier to travel to other countries, study abroad, and have strong relations with the population contains with elderlies such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China.

            The downturn in the economic scope, which was affected by other scopes, such as health, education, employment, and others, was inevitable for Southeast-Asian countries. Each government from Southeast-Asian countries should change or modify policies regarding post-covid recovery. However, the government’s struggle only is not enough to reduce the impact of the pandemic. So, the societies’ struggle is also crucial as well rather than only relying on the government’s policy. The form is to obey the government’s policy and adapt to the actual condition in nowadays era. (Aji Dwi Nanda)