Considered an important work published at an important moment in the life of Asean, the 489-page book narrates the grouping's humble beginnings and its transformation into one of the world's influential regional blocs.

Severino reveals his insights and experiences from his tenure as Asean secretary-general from 1998 to 2002. A former Filipino diplomat, Severino is highly regarded as one of Asean's most prominent figures, who has striven to make it better understood.

The book begins with the largely recognised assertion of Asean being a region replete with diversity, fragility and feelings of enmity among member states due to past conflicts. These innate factors have moulded a special kind of relationship among them based on informal practice and loose arrangements, what became widely known as the Asean way.

Yes, the Asean way was a pace comfortable to all. But this led to a lack of institution building, since the only effective mechanism to maintain a sense of regionalism were the personal relationships among Asean leaders. In the meantime, mutual distrust prevailed. This reason alone provided a legitimate resistance to rapid and deeper integration of Asean - a shield against external intervention in everyone's affairs.

Severino implicitly asks, "Have Asean members obsessively upheld the rules of equality and consensus?" He does admit though that the rules served Asean well over the past four decades. The criticism does not stop there. Burma's admission into Asean in 1997 cast further doubts on the organisation over the real purpose behind its membership enlargement.

Severino does a fine job of discussing the principle of non-intervention which, he says, was born elsewhere long before the founding of Asean. Foreign in origin, Asean localised the concept to suit its own conditions, in which the sovereignty of nation-states is supreme in the face of remaining mutual suspicion. But as the world has been changing, so has the application of the non-intervention principle in Asean. The practice has been watered down in recent years.

Taking examples from the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the region's annual haze problem, the Sars epidemic, the conflict in East Timor and, once more, Burma's membership, Severino believes that the non-intervention principle became less sacrosanct as some domestic situations were perceived to be affecting other member countries or the association itself.

Severino says one such situation might be the flow of illicit drugs and refugees from Burma to other Southeast Asian countries. Asean would have to take its signals from Thailand, the country that bears the brunt of Burma-related drug and refugee flows. But, he says, "So far, Thailand has sent no such signals and seems inclined to deal with Burma bilaterally on the issue and keep the rest of Asean out of it."

Turning away from the old stigmas of Asean's image, the book elaborates on developments in key areas of cooperation. On the security front, Asean has been successful in promoting regional peace and security through the Asean Regional Forum (ARF), alleviating conflicts in the South China Sea, as well as dealing with new global threats, particularly terrorism.

Asean has also made some progress on regional economic integration through the establishment of the Asean Free Trade Agreement (Afta). Severino sees tariff reduction as being the most visible and dramatic of the integration measures. But he also asserts that problems remain because most Asean governments do not feel a sufficient identification of the national interest with regional economic integration.

Another development currently under the spotlight has been the East Asian Summit (EAS) held in December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur. Severino says that the EAS reflects certain realities on the ground, such as the growing involvement of India, Australia and New Zealand in the affairs of East Asia, the bogging down of World Trade Organisation talks and the rise in transnational problems.

In the end, Severino offers an update on the development of the Asean Community, but with a big question mark: is this for real? The association is on its way to creating an Asean Community by 2020 that is founded on three pillars: security, economic and socio-cultural ties. Attempts have been made to achieve market integration through concrete measures, to empower regional institutions, to strengthen defence cooperation and to promote new areas of cooperation, like maritime security and preventing weapons of mass destruction.

Severino also draws attention to the necessity of building a "people-centric" community, which is a prerequisite for establishing a regional identity. A more visible regional identity will greatly assist in the drafting of the Asean Charter, a document outlining the grouping's principles, functions and organisational structure. This will generate a sense of belonging and togetherness when member countries look at problems facing the region.

"Southeast Asia in Search of an Asean Community" is a must-have book for those who are curious about the realities of Asean and its perplexing nature.

Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun is an independent writer based in Singapore.

'Southeast Asia in Search of an Asean Community' is published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies of Singapore. It is available through www.iseas.edu.sg.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun