THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is an organization of 11 countries in the region that have agreed to promote and cooperate in efforts to address both traditional and nontraditional threats, as well as ensure peace and stability. Traditional threats include border controls, territorial disputes and migration, while emerging nontraditional ones include cybersecurity, climate change, intense competition between global powers, and rising transnational crimes.
Currently, Southeast Asian governments are wrestling with the surge in transnational crimes that traverse and seep through their boundaries, such as online scams, illegal narcotics, human trafficking and money laundering. The scale of transnational crimes is unimaginable. Reported online scamming operations in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand could lead to $114 billion in economic losses annually, siphoning the hard-earned money of their innocent victims. In addition, thousands of people from different countries have been duped to work in these scam centers, where they are forced to work long hours and suffer psychological, physical and sexual abuse.
The factors driving transnational crime networks in the region are borne by geopolitical, technological, economic and social pressures. The rise of China as a regional power has ironically coincided with the expansion of Chinese-linked crime networks across Southeast Asia. Internet bandwidth and connectivity have significantly improved, facilitating both lawful and unlawful activities among the population in these countries. Trade wars and the global economic slowdown have disrupted supply chains and shrunk household incomes. Finally, advanced technologies have shifted both social and economic activities toward the cyberdomain, not only accelerating people’s connection with each other but also dividing them and generating much social polarization through fake news, disinformation, and public distrust of governments.
Asean members are seriously discussing how to mitigate and counter transnational crime networks that have become embedded in their social, political and economic institutions. A case in point is the Philippines, where local officials have been investigated for alleged links to Chinese intelligence agents and were instrumental in the proliferation of Philippine offshore gaming operations. Another is the growing intercountry arrangements for rescuing and repatriating victims of scam compounds to their countries of origin. Asean members are also strengthening the campaign against transnational crimes, such as regulating social media, funding “fact-checking” media organizations and strengthening data privacy and cyberlibel laws.
Unlike the European Union, the Asean acts more slowly and less aggressively due to its culture of consensus-building and mutual respect. Its members hesitate to impose their choices on others with respect to Asean centrality. And the colonial history of these countries is a stark reminder of why the Asean upholds sovereignty and territorial integrity.
With such cultures and norms, the Asean takes more time, patience and consultation before members can even act on a specific issue. But transnational crime networks do not operate this way. They move quickly across borders, exploit weak institutions, and use legitimate businesses and financial systems to conceal illicit proceeds through money laundering. Worse, terrorist groups and organized criminal organizations have taken advantage of the Asean intransigence toward change and set up consortiums in various criminal enterprises, such as arms smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and exports of endangered wildlife.
Amid this complex challenge, it is perhaps time to create the Asean Anti-Transnational Crime Commission, whose task is to coordinate plans, programs and even operations against these cross-border unlawful activities. Stricter controls must also be established to protect each country’s monetary and financial systems by ensuring that illicit money does not mix with legitimate markets. And there must be a shift in the capacity and competence of law enforcement agencies from kinetic operation into the cyberdomain, rooting out transnational crimes and their accomplices in the private sector.
To quickly make these recommendations happen, the Philippine government can spearhead this as the bloc’s chairman this year. The country has the opportunity to place transnational crime as a priority in the Asean’s security agenda. Asean members must realize that the culture of consensus-building must give way to addressing transnational crimes that threaten the peace and stability of their territories. Otherwise, the bloc shall gradually lose its relevance.
