Strategic vision for Asean at Davos forum

Just viewed a panel discussion on Asean.the chair of Asean,the PM Hun Sen stress need to maintain peace and neutrality and avoid geopolitical tension.indonesia is chair of G20,Thailand Apec and Cambodia Asean so he brings the importance of collaborative globalization and multilateralism vs the rise of domestic proctectionism of sanctions and restrictions.we are facing not only energy crisis but food insecurity.this a warning that the twin crisis has potential to cause civil unrest and regime change if governments dont handle the issue well as seen in the rise of the Arab Spring. some countries are already facing stagflation after the covid lockdowns.a period of stagnant growth and rising inflation impacts on cost of living,and quality of life.rising unemployment,job losses and closing down of sme businesses will result in rising dissatisfaction of the young people who will act out in civil unrest.the problem could be overcome when labour is exported to find work in Japan,Europe or the Middle East and the foreign remissions help to build up the foreign exchange reserves of the Phillipines,Myanmar or Indonesia but the problem is the pandemic cause a global slowdown in the rich developed nations too.so infrastructure construction or manufacturing jobs are reduced.looking at how sputh asia nations like Sri Lanka and Nepal are facing increasing indebtedness ,civilians suffer from high energy prices and high food bills resulting in shortage of essential supplies from medicine to gas.will Asean countries face such a problem? It has to balance the interest of the interregional body with its own domestic interest.should Asean help each other to diversify to green ,sustainable energy?should Asean help each other in reducing the catbon footprint by improving public transport and manufacture electric vehicles.should they collaborate on food supply so msia supply palm oil to indonesia if they ban its export and we import frozen chicken from thailand when we face chicken shortages.Msia imports 60% of food supplies so devalue of ringgit cause rise in food prices. why dont we open up more local poultry farms or fruit and vegetable farms so wete not too dependent on imports so when borders are closed due to pandemic,we suffer supply chain disruption and rising food costs.just read in the Guardian newspaper what Amartya Sen said 30 years ago,the cause of starvation is not food scarcity but lack of access to food .there shouldnt be globalisation of food but food sovereignity .as EF Schumacher said in small is beautiful,we need to return food production to small,independent farmers in poor countries so big agribusiness dont monopolize markets and control food supply and prices.to have resilience,the system needs lots of small farmers and lots of spare capacity the forum on strategic vision of Asean saw active participation of Singapore,Malaysia and Indonesia and Cambodia.what it lacks is feedback from Thailand and the Philippines.