The Philippines has been part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since 1967, and it is one of the first four members. From being an organization that binds its member countries in a lot of ways, it is going for something that will bind everyone of us further—through the intensely unified ASEAN Community 2015. Read more…
Photo credit: worak
I didn’t know much about the ASEAN Community 2015 until I’ve read about it extensively recently. What I know a lot about is the open skies agreement that would liberalize air travel among the member countries more, but apparently, it’s just part of a bigger blueprint.
The ASEAN Community 2015, simply put, is a unification of the member countries to function cooperatively and to make sure that its citizens live better lives. The ASEAN believes that working collectively will make us stronger than being individual countries, resulting to valuable frameworks for peace, prosperity, and people.
Through this one community, we will have peace in a way that we will protect each other in the interest of securing safety for our countries, and we will not be in war with one another.
We will also have prosperity with a stronger and collective economic development, and we will reap the benefits—more investors, business growth, and more jobs and opportunities. Moreover, we will be able to work in any ASEAN country, and agriculture will be more fruitful and modernized. The consequence is the improvement of the overall quality of our lives in many ways—transportation and technology infrastructure will be better, for instance.
But of course, the focus of the community framework is the people. For the benefit of their citizens, our governments will continue to address pressing issues in the community, including the environment, disasters, and health. They will likewise continue to promote cultural and educational exchange, and stress on family values.
Photo credit: IRRI Images
To us who blog, foremost among the roles we have in fulfilling this big dream is to spread awareness. A recent study by the ASEAN Secretariat revealed that 76% of surveyed citizens from ASEAN lack a basic understanding of the community and its objectives. Through blogs and social media, we could absolutely combat this by coming up with suitable informational postings that highlight the importance of the one community we are striving to build by 2015.
Meanwhile, for the subset of us travel bloggers, we must continue to chronicle our travels across ASEAN member states and treat these other countries as if they were our own. Aside from showcasing the beauty, culture, and excitement each destination brings, we must highlight how despite we are miles apart, we are similar in more ways than one. That way, we could encourage and therefore aid tourism within the region.
Even more, with us traveling a lot across Southeast Asia, we could bring with us our culture and ideas and share them to our ASEAN friends. On one hand, we could foster camaraderie, while on the other, we could spark ideas for sustainable development in the region.
Lastly, we should enrich and empower the blogging community here in Southeast Asia. It has been proven many a time that blogging and social media are potent tools for development, and having a backbone consisting of like-minded individuals that work collectively towards similar goals would result to beneficial yields, causes, and most importantly, change.
THE ASEAN BLOGGER FESTIVAL 2013
This year, if I am fortunate enough, I will be flying to Solo, Indonesia for the ASEAN Blogger Festival 2013 that has the theme, “Reinventing the Spirit of Cultural Heritage in Southeast Asia.” In the island of Java will some of the region’s bloggers and social media representatives converge to tackle vital issues, draw solutions, appreciate the ASEAN heritage, and discuss the ASEAN Community 2015 framework.
The tagline for this year’s festival is tourism ambassador, which apparently emphasizes that the thrust will be tourism. This is the primary reason why I want to be there—the topics hit close to home. I know I could contribute very well.
I was 18 when I started traveling around the Philippines, but I was 20 when I decided to start this travel blog primarily share my passion but more importantly to promote domestic tourism to the youth. Through my blog, I have joined our country’s tourism department in their programs promoting history, culture, and food, and I have proven that it is not only affordable to travel in our country but also more fun.
Going into the second half of last year, I traveled further into ASEAN countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. It was then that I fell in love with Southeast Asia—from its culture and history to its food and nature. Traveling also made me understand that we really are “same same but different,” and with our similarity, we could definitely stand united.
And it goes without saying that I want to network and learn. I’m very outgoing, and I want to meet new ASEAN friends and learn further about their culture. I’ve traveled a lot, and I’ve realized that being with the natives—conversing with them, eating with them, and laughing with them—is the best way to integrate into the local culture.
Finally, I want to explore more of Java’s cultural heritage. The host, Surakarta City, is home to heritage sites that I could add to the growing list of significant places I have been to.
ASEANITA: OUR VIRTUAL FRIEND
One of the initiatives of AirAsia asean is Aseanita, our friend who aims to promote destinations in the region as a virtual guide in various social media channels. She’s on Facebook and Twitter, and she holds regular contests with exciting prizes, so do follow her.
The ASEAN Blogger Festival 2013 happens this May 10-12, 2013 in Sukararta, Central Java, Indonesia. Know more about it at 2013.blogfest.info or through Twitter.
