SINGAPORE: Singapore may be the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and host of the last Summit, which laid the groundwork for integration.

But the next generation of potential leaders here seem less plugged into ASEAN, compared to their peers in the region.

A survey among the 10 countries' undergraduates, commissioned by the ASEAN Foundation in Jakarta, found that Singapore youths are the least likely to consider themselves ASEAN citizens.

Of the 272 National University of Singapore (NUS) students polled, 50.7 percent did not think of themselves as such — well above the 23-percent regional average.

Undergraduates from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam were most likely to see themselves as citizens of the region.

And Singaporeans' knowledge of the region was below average — they performed worse on quiz questions than students from Laos, Brunei or Malaysia, for example. In all, 2,170 undergraduates across ASEAN were polled between September and November.

And the timing likely had a lot to do with the fact that Myanmar students were the next least attached to ASEAN — 40.5 percent did not see themselves as part of it.

The poll was conducted shortly after the junta's crackdown on monk-led protests.

"I think scepticism may well be related to the fact that that was a particularly-fraught moment in relations between ASEAN and Myanmar," said Dr Eric Thompson of the NUS Sociology Department, one of two researchers in the study.

Other countries' youth who had ambivalent views about ASEAN were from the more affluent nations such as Malaysia and Brunei. Filipino students were among the most positive.

Nevertheless, there were some favourable attitudes towards ASEAN among Singaporean undergraduates.

About 90 percent of those polled believed membership in ASEAN was beneficial to the nation.

Dr Tin Maung Maung Than, a researcher with the Institute of South-east Asian Studies — which hosted a forum on the survey findings on Tuesday — said this was a "natural response" from Singaporeans that could be put down to the "small state syndrome".

"We can't survive without the region. That has been drilled into everybody for umpteen years," said Dr Than.

But on a personal level, Singaporeans showed less enthusiasm.

Only about 66.3 percent saw ASEAN as beneficial to them personally, on par with the regional average.

Youth here see more concerns than opportunities in the region — they highlighted security and military cooperation as well as health and disease control as important issues, said Dr Thompson.

And although Singapore emerged as the No 1 destination for work and travel among the respondents, Singaporeans are not as keen about travelling to ASEAN countries.

Dr Thompson explained their mentality thus: "If I go travelling, I would rather go to Hong Kong or even Australia or America. I am not that interested to see the Angkor Wat."


- TODAY/so