In a bid to give heft to the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Indonesia is looking to set up an ASEAN Declaration focusing on family development.
INDONESIAN Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy seeks to bolster the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC), with the setting up of an ASEAN Declaration that would focus on promoting family development.
The Minister Effendy mooted the idea in a statement after a bilateral meeting with Singapore’s Minister for Social and Family Development of Singapore Masagos Zulkifli. Effendy is currently chair of the ASCC Council under Indonesia’s 2023 ASEAN Chairmanship which is from 1st January to 31st December 2023.
The Minister revealed that his side was in the process of drafting an ASEAN Declaration on Southeast Asian cultural value and custom-based family development.
“Currently, the (mainstream) concepts for family development are still influenced by ideas from western countries that are not too suitable with family development strategies in the ASEAN region, including in Indonesia and Singapore”
Indonesia Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy
“Currently, the (mainstream) concepts for family development are still influenced by ideas from western countries that are not too suitable with family development strategies in the ASEAN region, including in Indonesia and Singapore,” the minister said.
In the light of this thinking the Indonesian coordinating minister expected that the draft of the ASEAN Declaration related to family development can be followed up at the ministerial meeting on ASCC by establishing various initiatives to carry out concrete family development attempts.
“For instance, it can be followed up by (conducting) research on various matters related to family issues in ASEAN,” he remarked.
The ASCC Council, under Indonesia’s chairmanship, will raise five important issues, which include the establishment of the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control (ACC THPC), ASEAN Public Health Emergency Fund, and the ASEAN Village Network.
The fifth issue is related to the preparation of the ASEAN Guideline on Protection of Migrant Workers in Crisis Situations.
Additionally, the council will prepare the ASEAN Guideline on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on Promoting Competitiveness, Resilience, and Agility of Workers for the Future of Work.
The Minster also stated that Indonesia and Singapore have established bilateral cooperation on women’s empowerment, child protection, and family development by sharing good practices, exchanging information, as well as implementing training programmes to strengthen family development in both countries.
“We hope that this cooperation can continue to be improved and implemented properly through the right programmes, one of which is targeting (to bolster) family economic empowerment,” he added.
Sourced from Antara News post
