A Dialogue Forum on “Attitudes and Awareness Towards ASEAN: A Research Finding” was held at Kuala Lumpur on 29 April 2015, as part of the series of ASEAN-related discussions and forums held in conjunction with the 26th ASEAN Summit recently hosted and chaired by Malaysia. It discussed the preliminary results of an update of a ten-nation survey among undergraduate students, first undertaken in 2007.
In 2014, ISEAS coordinated an update of the 2007 survey, in order to gauge whether attitudes have changed or remain the same on the eve of the ASEAN Community 2015. The survey update’s preliminary results found that overall, undergraduates in the ASEAN countries continue to display ASEAN-positive attitudes, with highest enthusiasm found in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (over 90%), and ambivalence continuing in Singapore and the Philippines (less than 67%). Over 80% of students consider themselves “citizens” of ASEAN. Compared to 2007, more ASEAN-positive attitudes are displayed in Myanmar, and Thailand showed more ASEAN ambivalent attitudes. Students’ objective knowledge of ASEAN also improved from 2007 to 2014. The Internet as a primary source of information on ASEAN has jumped up to third position, following television and school. The fact-sheet on key highlights of the preliminary results is here.
