The Bangkok Declaration was the initial foundation of cooperation from Southeast Asian countries. The Bangkok Declaration was signed on August 8, 1967 in the city of Bangkok, Thailand. The existence of this declaration is considered as the beginning of the establishment of ASEAN. There are 5 ASEAN countries that have signed the Bangkok Declaration.
The declaration stated the establishment of an association in the Southeast Asia (ASEAN) region. This association was founded with the consideration that countries in Southeast Asia have a responsibility to strengthen economic and social stability, ensure peace and the pace of national development and ensure security stability from outside interference in all its manifestations.
The Bangkok Declaration is a basis for an agreement to establish regional cooperation in the economic, social and cultural fields in the Southeast Asian region. In addition, there are 7 points of content of the Bangkok Declaration which is also known as the ASEAN goal .
Bangkok Declaration
In the following, we explain about the Bangkok Declaration starting from the time and place of signing, the founding figures as well as the results and contents of the Bangkok Declaration and its impact on Indonesia and Southeast Asian countries.
Signing of the Bangkok Declaration
The Bangkok Declaration was signed on August 8, 1967. As the name implies, the Bangkok Declaration was signed in Thailand, precisely in the city of Bangkok.
This declaration also became the beginning of the establishment of the ASEAN organization, namely the organization of countries in Southeast Asia. No wonder this declaration is also often referred to as the ASEAN Declaration.
Bangkok Declaration Figure
There are 5 (five) countries that participated in the Bangkok Declaration represented by 5 representative figures. The five countries participating in the meeting in Bangkok are Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand.
Indonesia was represented by Adam Malik as Indonesia’s foreign minister at the signing of the Bangkok Declaration. The following are the names of representatives of countries now known as founding figures of ASEAN who also signed the Bangkok Declaration:
- Adam Malik (Indonesian foreign minister)
- Tun Abdul Razak (deputy prime minister of Malaysia)
- S. Rajaratnam (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore)
- Narciso Ramos (Philippines foreign minister)
- Thanat Khoman (Thai foreign minister)
Contents of Bangkok Declaration
Following are the contents and results of the Bangkok Declaration. The following seven points are also known as the purpose of establishing ASEAN in countries in the Southeast Asian region.
- Accelerate growth, social progress and cultural development in the Southeast Asian region.
- Maintain peace and stability by upholding the law and relations between countries in Southeast Asia.
- Promote active cooperation and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural, technological and administrative fields.
- Provide mutual assistance in the field of training and research facilities in the fields of education, vocational, technical and administrative.
- Cooperate more effectively to achieve greater efficiency in the fields of agriculture, industry and trade development including studies on international commodity trade, improvement of transportation and communication facilities and improving people’s living standards.
- Increase the study of problems in Southeast Asia.
- Maintain close and fruitful cooperation with other international and regional organizations that share common goals and seek opportunities to promote cooperation with them.
This declaration also approved the establishment of ASEAN or the Association of South East Asian Nations, which is an association of organizations between countries in the Southeast Asia region.
At the beginning of the declaration there were 5 members who became the founding countries of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand. After that several other countries joined ASEAN such as Brunei Darussalam (joined in 1984), Vietnam (joined in 1995), Laos & Myanmar (joined in 1997) and also Cambodia (joined in 1999).
The formation of ASEAN was based on the desire for cooperation, especially in the economic field. ASEAN is a non-political and non-military cooperative organization of Southeast Asian countries. The existence of the ASEAN Declaration in Bangkok is also the beginning of cooperation between Southeast Asian countries.