Preface ASEAN is a dynamic force which maintains its growth despite obstacles and problems. After completing the first period of its vision of an integrated regional community (ASEAN Community 2015), ASEAN is now preparing for the launch of ASEAN Community Vision 2025, supported by ASEAN Connectivity 2025. As a study center focusing primarily and solely on ASEAN, Pusat Studi ASEAN (PSA) Universitas Andalas in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that this time

more »

... f transition is the most appropriate moment to evaluate past actions, to discuss present issues and to provide an outlook for the future of ASEAN. The main objective of the International Conference on ASEAN (IC-ASEAN) was to gather academics and practitioners, from various backgrounds, in order to specifically compile knowledge, theory and scientific suggestions which could contribute to the success of ASEAN's future; thus the theme of this conference "Towards a Better ASEAN". In order to directly connect to ASEAN, the subtheme of IC-ASEAN was aligned with the three ASEAN Community pillars which are ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Moreover, the subthemes were designed to be general to accommodate the diverse and numerous backgrounds of participants. The keynote speakers, who were experts in their field; academics and professionals (diplomats), came from ASEAN member countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam. There were more than 100 papers presented at the conference, originating from more than 30 universities and institutions from all over Indonesia and also Malaysia. We do believe that this conference is an initial step towards collaboration between academics and practitioners from various backgrounds to play a role in the development of ASEAN as a regional organization. It still has a very long way to go, but this initial step is the start of many years of collaboration. This proceeding is the first of what we hope will be a series of the International Conference on IC-ASEAN proceedings. The papers published in this proceeding are selected articles from IC-ASEAN conference. Our most notable achievement will be the contribution of the knowledge within this proceeding for the advancement of IC-ASEAN, but also the enlightenment that it could bring to anyone who was able to read it.