Ahead of the 58th Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) and Related Meetings to be held in Kuala Lumpur this week, here are five common myths about Asean and why they don’t hold up.

1. Asean is irrelevant

Fact: In today’s world, no country can solve major problems alone – and that’s exactly where Asean comes in.

From food security and climate change to digital governance and geopolitical tension, the challenges Southeast Asians face don’t stop at national borders. Asean provides the platform for countries to coordinate responses, amplify their voice, and ensure that regional interests aren’t sidelined by global power struggles.

As Joel Ng, senior fellow at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, puts it: “The relevance of Asean is something that’s always in the background.

“Maybe it doesn’t seem really urgent, but in the middle of particular crises and in the big picture and long run, it’s really important to everything.

“You need cooperation. You need empathy to understand each other’s positions. You need a willingness to meet and talk, and so forth.”

Asean’s dialogue platforms and forums are also one of the few places where all of the major powers – the US, China, Russia, India, Japan, and the EU – show up.

That’s not irrelevance. That’s strategic necessity in an interdependent world.

2. Asean is a ‘talk-shop’ that doesn’t deliver

Fact: Asean delivers in ways that aren’t always headline-grabbing, but these outcomes still matter.

Not every event ends with dramatic breakthroughs. But continuous dialogue and diplomacy still help in building trust over time, laying the groundwork for cooperation on issues like trade, energy, public health, and climate adaptation.

Progress may be incremental, but it’s durable. Outcomes like regional food reserves, digital trade standards, and education exchanges don’t happen overnight. They happen because Asean keeps the conversation going, and the impact builds, step by step.

Asean also works through quiet diplomacy and informal consultations. Speaking to FMT, Institute of Strategic and International Studies analyst Izzah Ibrahim said that Asean has its own way of doing things.

“There is an aversion to publicising matters, for fear of escalation or interference, and that is why many of these negotiations, compromises, and decisions have happened behind closed doors,” she said.

“Sometimes this lack of appreciation or understanding of this style of diplomacy is used to criticise the effectiveness of Asean as a whole.”

3. Asean is meant to solve major power conflicts

Fact: Asean wasn’t created to referee global superpowers – it was built to prevent conflict within the region, and to give Southeast Asia collective strength in a divided world.

In 1965, Asean’s founding goal was to build peace and trust among its members, and to forge unity so that Southeast Asia could speak with one voice. That unity gives the region more leverage to stay neutral and avoid having to choose sides between major powers, such as in the ongoing US-China conflict.

According to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Kuik Cheng Chwee, Asean’s main purpose is to mitigate intra-Asean problems, including shoring up regional peace and prosperity.

“While we have problems within Asean, they would be much bigger and more difficult to resolve without it,” he said.

“Nobody would say that Asean is sufficient,” he added, acknowledging the bloc’s slower decision-making in resolving urgent matters. “But it is indispensable.”

Even bigger organisations like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization haven’t been able to resolve superpower conflicts. Blaming Asean for this tall order might not hold up.

4. Asean’s influence is limited to Southeast Asia

Fact: Asean has dozens of external partnerships, including with the US, EU, China, the Gulf states, and Latin America.

This cooperation spans the whole gamut – from defence and security, and trade and financial ties, to people-to-people exchanges and connectivity. This July, countries including Brazil, Pakistan, and Switzerland will be meeting in Kuala Lumpur for the 58th AMM and Related Meetings – proof that Asean’s footprint extends far beyond the region.

5. Asean is the next EU

Fact: Asean and the EU are both regional integration projects, but they go about integrating their member economies, laws and other national jurisdictions differently.

Denis Hew, senior fellow at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said that Asean is trying to build a single market and production base.

“It’s not the EU style of market, but what you’re trying to do is to get different Asean countries to work together and build on their comparative advantages to create an industrial platform that can be an alternative to big markets such as China.

“Asean is a potential big market for consumers, but it’s also a potential big platform for investments. The big focus now is to address the challenges and implement what we have already written down [in the Asean Economic Community documents].”

Woo Wing Thye, a visiting professor at Universiti Malaya agreed that Asean should not be mimicking the EU.

“We need to focus on what’s achievable within the region,” he said.

“If Asean does not act collectively, it will not be taken seriously by the major powers.”