Thailand Law Journal 2010 Spring Issue 1 Volume 13

In the spirit of ASEAN encompassing solidarity, cooperation and consensus, rather than “ASEAN Way”, ASEAN has to nurture further so that related issues, for example, qualifications and admission to practice in ASEAN court, would be overcome. By the time ASEAN stands ready for the establishment of ASEAN court, any appealing model, like the Court of Justice of the European Communities, may be introduced for consideration and discussion. This paper does not rule out such possibility. Simply put, ASEAN has to make up its mind in which direction it wishes to proceed and to engage itself in the fast-changing environment at the global and regional levels.

IV. Contribution of the ASEAN law Association (ALA) to ASEAN
Even though ASEAN is approaching its 43 years in existence, ASEAN is in the era of opportunities and challenges, partly attributable by globalization and crisis, be they natural, political, or economic. ASEAN is in the process of adaptation to fit in the changing environment by making the best use of its resilience and solidarity which has been nurtured over the past years. As the foregoing parts of this paper illustrate that ASEAN may be in a better position to proceed cautiously by taking time to contemplate on the legal issues at hand. This does not prevent ALA from making contribution to the work of ASEAN.

Based on its 1979 Constitution, ALA has served its members well. Article II (d) provides an avenue for ALA to be assertive the work of ASEAN. To implement it, studies and researches conducted by ALA should be officially shared with ASEAN in a timely manner. This would certainly raise the profile of ALA while strengthening the relationship with ASEAN and its member countries.

ALA might consider offering its expertise to ASEAN as it resources allow. Collaboration with ASEAN in the form of a joint organization of seminars or workshops on issues of common concern should be favorably considered. Sharing of resources and expertise would be a way to consolidate partnership between ASEAN, an intergovernmental organization, and ALA, a non-governmental organization, as envisaged in the ASEAN Charter.

In the overall perspectives, other than legal advice and recommendations ALA may be more than competent to make to ASEAN, as appropriate, it is advisable that capacity building is an area ALA should explore further to determine in which way and to what extent ALA may extend assistance for mutual benefit of the two bodies.

Capacity building is one of the issues the developing countries have called for, ALA still has a role to play in shaping attention of practitioners in the field of progressive development of international law underpinning the ASEAN Charter. ALA may also help design relevant training courses at different levels to meet the differing background of attendants, one of which could be implementation of international obligations under the ASEAN Charter in domestic laws of the respective Member countries. It should be noted that the future of international law lies within the capacity to respond to issues of international concern and to “harness national institutions in pursuit of global objectives”.20 Focus may be made on capacity building of national institutions in the respective ASEAN member countries. It could possibly entail to the revisit of legal norms and principles in some specific areas of international law, i.e., human rights, maritime security, alternative dispute resolution, etc.

V. Concluding Remarks
In the final analysis, ASEAN and ALA need each other. At the same time, each will contribute very much to work of the other. The concept of partnership should be forged a this stage which will lead to further collaborative engagement between the two prominent bodies. Any legal issues ASEAN might not be comfortable to deal with, due to the sensitivity of their nature or for whatever reasons, could be addressed by ALA. To translate the key objectives of ALA into action as far as ASEAN is concerned, nothing is insurmountable to overcome.