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The problem with the ASEAN Way is most succinctly

demonstrated by the ASEAN Declaration on the Rights of Migrant
Workers, which was adopted in 2007. Ten years after, there
is still no agreement on a viable implementing instrument for

the said Declaration because there is no ASEAN consensus on
the design and mechanics of the Instrument.

However, it is also obvious that the mandatory adoption
of MRA measures at the national level cannot work given the

entrenched ASEAN Way of doing things. What is likely to happen
is that there will be continuing talks on how to make the MRAs
work while the ASEAN labor market for skilled workers shall

evolve and likely to expand, gradually, as a natural outcome of
the changing economic structure and employment patterns in

an open ASEAN economy. For example, more and more skilled
workers shall be circulating without being registered formally
under the MRAs or in the proposed ASEAN Skills Certification

program.

17
In this context, the proposal of the ERIA team makes
better sense. They want the “free flow of skilled labor” to be

17 Intal, P., Fukunaga, Y, Kimura, F., Han, P., Dee, P., Narjoko, D. And Oum, S.,
2014. ASEAN Rising: ASEAN and AEC Beyond 2015, Jakarta: Economic Research
Institute for ASEAN and East Asia.

Policy Forum 91

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