1. Attitudes and Awareness toward ASEAN: Findings of a Ten Nation Survey
Conducted by
Dr. Eric C. Thompson
National University of Singapore
Dr. Chulanee Thianthai
Chulalongkorn University

2. Overview The history and future of ASEAN
Our base-line survey attempts to measure:
Attitudes toward ASEAN
Knowledge about the region and the association
Orientation toward the region and countries
Sources of information about the region
Aspirations for integration and action
Key findings on a nation-by-nation basis
Summary of region wide trends

3. Subjects
2,170 undergraduate university students (1064 male and 1106 female) from leading universities in each of the ten member nations of ASEAN
A sample of ~ students per university
Average Age: 20 years old

4. Methods September to November 2007
Survey questionnaires were handed to students from leading universities
Nation
University
Language
Brunei
Univ. of Brunei Darussalam
Bahasa Melayu
Cambodia
Royal Univ. Phnom Penh
Khmer
Indonesia
University of Indonesia
Bahasa Indonesia
Laos
National Univ. of Laos
Lao
Malaysia
Univ. of Malaya
Myanmar
Distance Education Students
Burmese
Philippines
University of the Philippines
English
Singapore
National Univ. of Singapore
Thailand
Chulalongkorn Univ.
Thai
Vietnam
Vietnam National Univ. (Hanoi)
Vietnamese

5. Findings: Attitudes toward ASEAN
Toward ASEAN as a Whole
ASEAN-enthusiasm
ASEAN- positive attitudes
ASEAN-
ambivalence
skepticism
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
Most common across the region
Singapore and some other countries
Myanmar*
*Responses from Myanmar were Bi-modal: Positive and Skeptical

6. Findings: Attitudes toward ASEAN
ASEAN citizenship. Over 75% agreed:
Nearly 90% felt that membership in ASEAN is beneficial to their nation and nearly 70 % felt it was beneficial to them personally
“ I feel I am a citizen of ASEAN”
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam Strongest Agreement
Singapore Myanmar Least Agreement

7. Findings: Attitudes toward ASEAN
Similarities among ASEAN countries
Greatest sense of similarity: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia
Least sense of similarity: Singapore, Brunei, Myanmar, Malaysia
Economically and Politically Culturally
Dissimilar Similar

8. Findings: Knowledge about the region and the Association
Overall, students have a strong knowledge about the region and Association
“How familiar are you with ASEAN ?”
Greatest sense of familiarity: Vietnam, Laos
Least sense of familiarity: Brunei, Singapore, Myanmar

9. Findings: Knowledge about the region and the Association
Students could list nine out of ten ASEAN countries and identify seven on a map of Southeast Asia.
Nearly 75% could identify ASEAN flag
Over 80% in all nations, other than Cambodia (63%), Thailand (38%) and Philippines (36%)
Nearly 50% could identify year of founding
Most in Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia
Least in Thailand and Myanmar
1967

10. Findings: Orientation toward the region and countries
Most Salient Countries: Thailand, Malaysia
Most Familiar: Thailand, Singapore
Sub-regions: Mainland, Maritime
Generally, students are most aware and familiar with countries in their own sub-region
Within Mainland Southeast Asia, other countries are more salient than familiar
In other words, students in Mainland nations feel more familiar with some Maritime countries (Singapore, Malaysia) than with neighbors

11. Findings: Orientation toward the region and countries
Orientations toward Travel and Work
Interest in knowing about other ASEAN countries. In general, over 90%
Strongest in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines
Weakest in Myanmar
Category
Country Rankings
Travel
1st Singapore, 2nd Thailand, and 3rd Malaysia, 4th Vietnam
Work
1st Singapore, 2nd Malaysia, Brunei, and Thailand

12. Findings: Sources of information about the region
Primary Sources:
Television, School, Newspapers, Books
Secondary Sources:
Internet, Radio
Others Sources:
Sports, Advertising, Friends
Least Important Sources:
Family, Travel, Movies, Music, Work

13. Findings: Sources of information about the region
Notable Trends
Everywhere, Internet rated less important than television and newspapers
Importance of Internet reveals a linguistic bias (rather than wealth bias)
Media environments differ, for example Radio is especially important in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos; but not so elsewhere

14. Findings: Aspirations for integration and action
Economic Cooperation
Tourism
Development Assistance
Educational Exchange
Security and Military Cooperation
Sports
Cultural Exchange
Political Cooperation
Most Important to Least Important Aspects of Integration and Cooperation
As ranked by “Strong Agreement” of students across the region

15. Findings: Aspirations for integration and action
Issues Crucial to Cooperation and Awareness
Most important:
Poverty Reduction
Education Exchange and Improvements
Science and Technology Development
Moderately important:
Natural Resource and Environmental Management
Low importance:
Cultural Preservation and Promotion

16. Findings: Aspirations for integration and action
Issues Crucial to Cooperation and Awareness
Notable variations across the region
Health and Disease Control
High importance in nations seeing it as a threat (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore) but low were problems are endemic (Vietnam, Cambodia)
Science and Technology Development
Very low importance in Singapore, but high elsewhere
Disaster Prevention and Relief; Regional Identity and Solidarity also highly variable

17. National Summaries
Brunei: Students’ knowledge of the region is very good. Attitudes are mostly positive, sometimes range toward ambivalence. Brunei remains one of the least well known countries.
Cambodia: Students are among the strongest ASEAN-enthusiasts. Objective knowledge of the region somewhat less than elsewhere.

18. National Summaries
Indonesia: Generally positive attitudes toward the region. Responses in the middle range of those region-wide. Some affinity for Malay-Muslim neighbors; but not to exclusion of the rest of the region.
Laos: Among the strongest ASEAN-enthusiasts and strongest objective knowledge of ASEAN.

19. National Summaries
Malaysia: Generally positive attitudes toward ASEAN, with some ambivalence. Overall in the middle-range of region-wide responses.
Myanmar: Evidence of two distinct attitudes; Skepticism among a substantial minority, generally positive attitudes among the majority. Weaker knowledge of ASEAN relative to the regional average.

20. National Summaries
Philippines: Relatively weak knowledge of the region and Association; but generally positive attitude and interest about the region.
Singapore: Trend of ambivalence toward the region. Least likely to see ASEAN members as similar; least likely to see themselves as citizens of ASEAN; below average knowledge about the region. But, rate the benefit of their nation’s membership highly. Singapore also the most desirable destination for travel and work.

21. National Summaries
Thailand: Generally positive attitudes toward the region and Association. Somewhat strong but uneven knowledge about the region and Association.
Vietnam: Among the strongest ASEAN-enthusiast and most knowledgeable about the region and Association. Some evidence of Vietnam’s emergence as a site for work and travel (but still less than Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei)

22. General Summary
ASEAN is in potential if not in fact, more than a diplomatic “talking shop”
Students display
High knowledge about ASEAN
Positive attitudes toward ASEAN
Consider themselves “Citizens” of ASEAN
Strongest ASEAN-enthusiasm among the newest, least-affluent members (with the exception of Myanmar)

23. General Summary Trend to “associate up” and “dissociate down”
Trend to see region as a threat in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore; but not elsewhere.
Need for greater familiarity among Mainland nations
However, overall there is a strong trend in commonality of responses and overall positive attitude toward ASEAN throughout the region.

24. Attitudes and Awareness toward ASEAN: Findings of a Ten Nation Survey
Conducted by
Dr. Eric C. Thompson
National University of Singapore
Dr. Chulanee Thianthai
Chulalongkorn University