ASEAN Community and Thailand s Need for English Proficiency for Better Job Opportunities

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1 ASEAN Community and Thailand s Need for English Proficiency for Better Job Opportunities Dr. Dhirawit Pinyonatthagarn Suranaree University of Technology dhirapin@gmail.com Abstract This paper takes a closer look at ASEAN community covering its overview, aims and purposes, fundamental principles, Charter, Asia opportunities, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, benefits of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), current situation, Thailand & ASEAN Community, Thai Society in preparation for the ASEAN Community, Thailand s English Proficiency, Thailand English Teaching Project 2012, keeping in view the purposes of ASEAN Community and the rapid changes in the region, in which Thailand and all other ASEAN member countries must prepare themselves well enough to cope with the strategic changes taking place in their own region and across the globe. Keywords: ASEAN Community, English Proficiency, Thailand, Job Opportunities ASEAN Overview Establishment The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam then joined on 7 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN. ASEAN Aims and Purposes 1. To accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations; 2. To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries of the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter; 3. To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields; 4. To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in the educational, professional, technical and administrative spheres; 5. To collaborate more effectively for the greater utilization of their agriculture and industries, the expansion of their trade, including the study of the problems of international commodity trade, the improvement of their transportation and communications facilities and the raising of the living standards of their peoples; 6. To promote Southeast Asian studies; and 32

2 7. To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes, and explore all avenues for even closer cooperation among themselves. Fundamental Principles In their relations with one another, the ASEAN Member States have adopted the following fundamental principles, as contained in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) of 1976: 1. Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations; 2. The right of every State to lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion; 3. Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another; 4. Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner; 5. Renunciation of the threat or use of force; and 6. Effective cooperation among themselves. ASEAN Community The ASEAN Vision 2020, adopted by the ASEAN Leaders on the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN, agreed on a shared vision of ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies. At the 9th ASEAN Summit in 2003, the ASEAN Leaders resolved that an ASEAN Community shall be established. At the 12th ASEAN Summit in January 2007, the Leaders affirmed their strong commitment to accelerate the establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015 and signed the Cebu Declaration on the Acceleration of the Establishment of an ASEAN Community by The ASEAN Community is comprised of three pillars, namely the ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Each pillar has its own Blueprint, and, together with the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Strategic Framework and IAI Work Plan Phase II ( ), they form the Roadmap for and ASEAN Community ASEAN Charter The ASEAN Charter serves as a firm foundation in achieving the ASEAN Community by providing legal status and institutional framework for ASEAN. It also codifies ASEAN norms, rules and values; sets clear targets for ASEAN; and presents accountability and compliance. The ASEAN Charter entered into force on 15 December A gathering of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers was held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta to mark this very historic occasion for ASEAN. With the entry into force of the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN will henceforth operate under a new legal framework and establish a number of new organs to boost its community-building process. In effect, the ASEAN Charter has become a legally binding agreement among the 10 ASEAN Member States. Asia Opportunities: ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 Under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a single regional common market of ASEAN countries will be created by The regional integration's 33

3 objective is to create a competitive market of over 600 million people in ASEAN countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. There will be free flow of goods, services, investment capital and skilled labor following the liberalization. These will include tariff reductions and streamlining of certain administrative procedures. Many businesses have begun preparing themselves three years ahead of time to meet the challenges and opportunities of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Even though, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper in Thailand, the AEC Scorecard at the moment shows the region behind schedule, having achieved only 73.6% of Phase 1 goals, it still offers a big opportunity in Asia as it will be viewed as a single large market. Furthermore, the integration will help increase ASEAN competitiveness with China and India. The delayed issues, such as agriculture, non-tariff barriers, integration of the less-developed CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam) members, and financial integration remain to be worked out. According to the US International Trade Commission report on AEC ( the challenges were seen in the area of importing and exporting which vary widely among ASEAN members. For example, procedures for trading are relatively easy to complete in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia, but very difficult in Laos and Cambodia. The quality of logistics services also varies among the ASEAN members, such as customs brokerage, freight forwarding, and express delivery. Logistics services are world-class in Singapore but poor in Laos, Cambodia, and Burma. In many ASEAN countries, restrictive regulations hamper the delivery of high-quality logistics services. Benefits of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 1. It will open more regional cooperation and will improve the scale efficiencies, dynamism and competitiveness of ASEAN members. AEC will enable easier movement of goods, services, investment, capital and people. Ultimately, it will offer new ways of coordinating supply chains, or access to new markets for established products. 2. All ASEAN countries are more important to foreign investors if they are considered as one node in a larger regional market of nearly 600 million people - a single market. The ASEAN Free Trade Agreement will be expanded to zero tariffs on almost all goods by ASEAN plans to remain engaged with the global economy through regional-level free trade agreements - today, ASEAN has such agreements with China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. 3.The USITC's ASEAN: Regional Trends in Economic Integration, Export Competitiveness, and Inbound Investment for Selected Industries Report noted that the AEC is coming at a time when it is recognized that investment in emerging markets is more desirable than in the US and Europe. "There will be no shortage of funding coming from within ASEAN, the Asia Pacific or even the US and Europe. These investments can bring about badly needed capital for some countries, to allow them to leapfrog from the 20th century into 21st century in terms of competition. 4. SMEs accounted for 96% of enterprises and between 50-85% of domestic employment across ASEAN. Integrating these SMEs and supporting them in the initial period will be a challenge throughout ASEAN but particularly in the lesser developed ASEAN countries. Recently I was in Singapore and it is obvious that the Singapore government fully realizes the challenge and the opportunity that the AEC will represent to SMEs and is putting both the planning talent and the resources to better support their SMEs. I was also in Vietnam and Thailand and although both countries are starting to 34

4 verbalize and meet to develop more effective plans for SME integration and support, it is obvious that these plans are probably behind where they need to be. In countries, such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar (Burma), plans are even further behind and more in need of support and resources. 5. Tourism opportunity. Asians travels more in the region and there are more travelers from other countries that have begun to reach out to Asia as new visitors. The trends were evident at the recent Hub City Forum, held by the Pacific Asia Tourism Association (Pata), where more than 100 travel industry executives discussed the tourism potential, government's spending to upgrade facilities both for leisure attractions like museums; and also MICE facilities such as convention centers, reported the newspaper. MICE tourism opportunities are particularly large and hopefully countries that have the most experience in this area such as Thailand and Singapore will render their assistance to those with weak MICE experience - recent examples of this are Thailand with Vietnam and also some talk in Thailand about rendering assistance in Laos and possibly Cambodia. 6. Internationalization of health care under the AEC. Health care is one of the sectors to be internationalized. This is definitely a big challenge as it is more complicated than just the popularity of Singapore and Thailand's "medical tourism" that patients travel from one country to another seeking better care at lower cost. The legal and licensing frameworks are still needed to be worked out. However, it offers potentials for the free-flow of health services, etc. in the region. Recent examples here were noted in the Bangkok Post in mid-march which noted programs by Thailand's largest medical service BGH and other Thai hospital groups to step-up the pace of mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures in other AEC countries to help give them a better platform to better take care of developing AEC opportunities. Current Situation - The AEC development has been criticized for being "too slow" and some observers have said that the issues that have been delayed were those of importance and could make or break the success of the integration. Some specialists also commented about the lack of leadership on this issue - the role of ASEAN chairmanship is a rotating position and a series of officials from the poorer, less developed ASEAN countries will be the chair of ASEAN for the next few years which means that leadership will be inexperienced and possibly be less interested in pushing ahead quickly with integration on all fronts. Furthermore, ASEAN will suffer the departure of a strong leader as the current ASEAN Secretary General, Thai diplomat Surin Pitsuwan, is completing his 5year term as ASEAN Secretary-General this year. As an experienced diplomat Surin Pitsuwan and prior to him the equally experienced Ong KengYong from Singapore have pushed ahead on integration. Some observers note that the less experienced officials from poorer and less developed ASEAN countries set to follow them will not have the same leadership skills, experience or knowledge and that this will tell on future progress. - Infrastructure development among the ASEAN countries: both the development of hard infrastructure such as roads, ports, airports, etc. and soft infrastructure such as human resource and training are being concentrated. Hard infrastructure: Many countries' governments have plans to upgrade their infrastructure, such as the plan of three highways linking ASEAN - the North/South one linking South China through Myanmar, Thailand, Lao and Vietnam; the East/West 35

5 Corridor linking Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam; and the South/South one linking Myanmar s Dawei deep seaport, Thailand s Laem Chabang and Cambodia (link to our infrastructure article). Thailand's government has also been talking to China about the high-speed train project linking Laos and Thailand s NongKhai to the southern border and Malaysia. For soft infrastructure, better English speaking countries in ASEAN, such as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines will have an advantage over countries like Thailand. According to the Bangkok Post, Thailand has established the English Speaking Year 2012 program in preparation for the merging of the AEC. This is a step in the right direction but what is ultimately needed is not only a program but a new mind-set. Thailand has not given enough attention to improving English skills throughout its education system and now is in a somewhat weaker position to countries such as Vietnam who have given increased attention to this and also benefit from having a western alphabet that makes learning of English both reading and writing easier than in Thailand. -The banking sector will particularly need to stay ahead of the game to facilitate investors and to support their moves throughout the region. Singaporean and Malaysian banks and telecoms, for instance, have invested heavily in the region and seem to be slightly ahead of other competitors in better preparing themselves for the AEC. - Executives have to adjust strategy. Inside the AEC, managers will increasingly have to pursue sales opportunities across the region while focusing relentlessly on cost efficiencies by integrating their operations across the region, managing through lean techniques but also developing effective corporate centralization. Externally, managers in countries such as the US, Canada and Europe are going to have to start paying better attention to this new opportunity. Many of them right now seem to have eyes for only China and India. Asia is much more than either of these two countries and western managers need to study and better understand the opportunities that the AEC presents. In China and India, the AEC also is not fully appreciated nor understood and both Indian and Chinese managers need to also focus more attention and to travel and address the opportunities that the AEC AEC presents. - ASEAN members still view each other as competitors, for inbound investment and jobs, reported USITC. Ultimately, these distinctions should start to fade to some extent but in the future the line between competitor and collaborator within ASEAN may become less clear. The ASEAN members will need legally binding means to enforce compliance with the objectives of the roadmaps, suggested the report. Thailand & ASEAN Community The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) aims to create an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by The AEC would have a combined population of over 575 million and total trade exceeding US$ 1,400 billion. ASEAN Economic Community The ASEAN Vision 2020 aims to create a stable, prosperous and highly competitive ASEAN economic region, in which there is a free flow of goods, services, investment and capital, equitable economic development and reduced poverty and socio-economic disparities by Free Trade Area Underpinning the AEC is the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), a preferential tariff scheme to promote the free flow of goods within ASEAN that are manufactured locally within any ASEAN country. Comprehensive Investment Area The ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Area (ACIA) will encourage the free flow of investment within ASEAN. Its main principles are: 36

6 All industries are to be opened up for investment, with exclusions to be phased out according to schedules National treatment is granted immediately to ASEAN investors with few exclusions Elimination of investment impediments Streamlining of investment process and procedures Enhancing transparency Undertaking investment facilitation measures Full realization of the ACIA with the removal of temporary exclusion lists in manufacturing, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and mining is scheduled by 2010 for most ASEAN members and by 2015 for Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam. Thai Society in Preparation for the ASEAN Community (27/04/2012) Several plans are being worked out and studies are being undertaken to prepare Thai society for the realization of the ASEAN Community in Deputy Government Spokesman Anusorn Aimsaard said that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had instructed relevant government agencies to draw up plans for Thai people to adjust themselves when the region becomes one community in three years time. He said that several agencies had made some progress on the preparations, but they still needed to work in an integrated manner in order to designate the branding of Thailand and set strategies. In this regard, the Secretariat to the Cabinet and the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board are joining hands in drawing up the Action Plan: The Countdown to the Establishment of the ASEAN Community. The action plan seeks to set timeframes and clear guidelines for kicking off projects to move Thailand toward the ASEAN Community. In addition, he said, all agencies concerned should make use of results of research and studies from the Office of the National Research Council of Thailand and the Thailand Research Fund, in preparation for the change. At the same time, they should encourage the private sector to join forces in setting strategies for the ASEAN Community, as well. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha on 25 April 2012 presided over a press conference on results of the study on the form of cross-border cooperation toward the ASEAN Community. The study focuses on Thai-Myanmar joint development, with the adoption of the Sufficiency Economy philosophy as an instrument. It was undertaken by a group of students at the National Defense Studies Institute. In his speech delivered at the Chamber of Commerce in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand (2012), Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary-General mentioned the following: 1. Thailand should be better prepared than other countries in the region, have more confidence, and be more fully aware of benefit and significance of ASEAN community than any other countries. 2. Thailand market will expand 10 times, from 64 million to 600 million, from local specific market power to purchasing power from 10 countries. The first thing we need to do is stop fighting, quarrels, conflicts among ourselves, there should be no baseless accusations and lack of mutual confidence or trust as these things will undermine confidence of world community. Each year, 80,000,000,000 US dollars are invested in ASEAN and 70 million tourists visit ASEAN. If these problems still persist, these benefits will disappear. Two million millions (2,000,000,000,000 US dollars) of 37

7 our exports with ASEAN and the whole world will not take place if they have no confidence and trust in ASEAN business. Our annual productivity that amounts to more than two million millions will not be smooth without mutual trust and confidence. Therefore, the first pillar is politics and security. 3. Most media take keen interest in this new grouping as it will have strong impact on job opportunities, employment, business structure, industrial structure, investment, exports, attempts to open new markets in services, capital investment. All of these are directly related to our daily activities, such as bank accounts, employment, change and improvements of economics system which are the main focus of the world at present. Where is Thailand in English Proficiency? With the upcoming economic integration in 2015 to form ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), there has been many movements towards preparing Thailand for open trade with our neighbors. One of the biggest concerns among Thais is the use of English as the common language. Since the beginning of ASEAN, English has been selected as the working language among ASEAN communities. The big question is: How prepared are Thais at speaking English? There are many ways to measure language proficiency, one of which is by using English Proficiency Index (EPI). It is a product of EF Education First, a global language training company, and draws its conclusions from data collected via online English tests available for free over the internet. Among the countries in Asia, the study shows: Rank Country Score Level 9 Malaysia High Proficiency 12 Hong Kong Moderate Proficiency 13 South Korea Moderate Proficiency 14 Japan Moderate Proficiency 25 Taiwan Low Proficiency 26 Saudi Arabia Low Proficiency 29 China Low Proficiency 30 India Low Proficiency 32 Russia Low Proficiency 34 Indonesia Very Low Proficiency 39 Vietnam Very Low Proficiency 42 Thailand Very Low Proficiency 44 Kazakhstan Very Low Proficiency With Thailand ranking one of the lowest proficiency scores of the countries obtained in the study. Vietnam and Indonesia scores are also categorized under very low proficiency, but nonetheless scored slightly higher compared to Thailand. English speaking country like Malaysia scores unsurprisingly well. Interestingly, countries that are perceived to be poor English speakers such as Japan and Korea also score relatively higher than Thailand in this study. Note that the data regarding some of ASEAN members such as Laos, Myanmar, Phillipines, or Cambodia are unavailable. Regardless of the ranking, it has become obvious that an average Thai is considered to have very low English proficiency. Recent online events and anecdotal evidences prove that Thais tend to be unwilling to converse in English and often revert back to use Thais among themselves. The readers probably also have experienced that Thais who are fluent in English are not common, and those that speak flawless English are considered very rare. Open economic integration also comes with more competition. With the upcoming AEC economic integration, bilingual and multilingual individuals will be very advantageous at finding job positions and getting promotions. At corporate level, the companies that adapt well to foreign trade will only proliferate from the integration, 38

8 while those that doesn t will be ignored. This also holds true among research communities, service industries, government officials, etc. If we do not adapt to communicate better, foreign countries will simply choose to collaborators that are more ready to communicate. Thailand English Teaching Project 2012CHING PROJECT 2012 The British Council, together with Thailand s Ministry of Education, has launched the Thailand English Teaching Project The project will bring UK undergraduates and recent graduates to support the teaching and learning of English in Thai schools. The first 67 British volunteers will arrive in Bangkok on the weekend of 21st 22nd July and take part in an induction programme on 23 and 24 July. After this, they will leave to work as English Teaching Assistants in host schools around the country. They will stay for an initial 8-week period until mid-september. The project will support the skills development of Thai school pupils who face the future of an integrated ASEAN and a more internationally competitive global world in which English will be a basic skill. For the UK volunteers, the project will help to develop more rounded and employable UK graduates with an international outlook. Language Assistants will work together in the classroom with Thai teachers of English and support extra-curricular activities outside of classroom hours. They will bring British Council resources to the schools and use these to teach and motivate the learning of English. They will not replace Thai teachers of English, but complement and support their work. English Teaching Assistants The English Teaching Assistants will be coming from a variety of different Universities all over the UK. Universities represented are Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln Canterbury Christ Church University Heythrop College, University of London Leeds University Leeds Metropolitan University Leicester University Liverpool University Manchester Metropolitan University Newman University College Birmingham Northumbria University Nottingham Trent University Queens University Belfast School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London University of Wolverhampton The English Teaching Assistants will be placed in pairs in schools across Thailand. They will be placed in both primary and secondary schools in state and private sectors. According to Education Minister Dr. Suchart Thadathamrongvech, 2,000 English speaking teachers will be hired to teach English language in schools cross Thailand overseen by the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC).The British Council will provide electronic course materials which the Education Ministry will then convert to tablet-compatible files. The new teachers are expected to undergo 4 39

9 hours of training each day for a period of 10 weeks. Up to date, numerous publications on ASEAN, especially AEC, have been compiled and published, including those on English and ASEAN languages. These will help speed up smooth transitions of member countries to a new world of cooperation and competition. Conclusions To conclude, keeping in view the purposes of ASEAN Community and the rapid changes in almost every sphere around the world, Thailand and all other ASEAN member countries must prepare themselves well enough to cope with the strategic changes taking place in their own region and across the globe. To prepare each country s work force for economic integration, ASEAN will encourage investment in education, training, science and technology development, job creation, and social protection. ASEAN will also seek increased cooperation in public health, especially the prevention and control of infectious and communicable diseases. Most importantly, according to Article 34 of ASEAN Charter, English shall be the working language of ASEAN. Therefore, English proficiency is one big concern for them, especially in the case of Thailand, Lao, Kampuchea, and Vietnam, in order to compete and survive on a sustainable basis, not just in ASEAN, but also in the whole world. References EF EPI English Proficiency Index "Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Between the Republic of India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations". ASEAN. 8 October Retrieved 4 August Limsamarnphun, Nophakhun. "World's largest trading zone creates a new era for industries, consumers". The Nation. Archived from the original on 10 January php. Retrieved 5 August 2016 Pitsuvan, Surin Speech delivered at the Chamber of Commerce in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Vijian, P. (2 January 2010). "Not All Easy As India-ASEAN FTA Comes Into Effect On Jan 1". Bernama. Retrieved 6 August Retrieved on 7 August Retrieved on 7 August