Humanists Malaysia & ASEAN Peoples

A.J. Surin, the Founder of Humanists Malaysia, is a human rights and constitutional lawyer with a focus on issues such as “apostasy”, the separation of religion from state, statelessness, and the rights of atheists in Malaysia.

During Humanists International’s General Meeting on 17th of January, 2025, I presented about ASEAN Peoples. There seemed to be a lot of interest in this regional advocacy work that we are doing. Therefore, I thought I’d write a post about this since five minutes for the presentation was insufficient to provide members & associates of Humanists International a comprehensive view of ASEAN Peoples.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established in 1967 with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Subsequently, Brunei Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia joined ASEAN.

The ASEAN Summit is the highest policy-making body in ASEAN comprising the Heads of State or Government of ASEAN Member States. As per regular practice, the ASEAN Summit Meetings shall be held twice annually at a time to be determined by the Chair of the ASEAN Summit in consultation with other ASEAN Member States, to be hosted by the ASEAN Member State holding the ASEAN Chairmanship.

The Chairmanship of ASEAN shall rotate annually based on the alphabetical order of the English names of Member States. Malaysia holds the ASEAN Chairmanship this year. It will lead ASEAN in crafting the ASEAN Community Vision 2045. This framework will work as a roadmap to guide the ASEAN Community for the next two decades. ASEAN civil society desires to engage with the High-Level Panel for ASEAN 2025.

The theme for ASEAN 2025 is “Inclusivity and Sustainability”, an apt theme for what CSOs in ASEAN desire to do.

Since September last year, Malaysian civil society organizations (CSOs) including Humanists Malaysia strategized the creation of ASEAN Peoples. To support ASEAN’s commitment to peace, stability, and inclusivity, Malaysian CSOs created this new multi-centric strategy, which is a continuous and thematic engagement. Under this approach, each lead organization will have autonomy to determine its model, program, and objectives in collaboration with other co-organizers. This approach aims to strengthen connections with ASEAN mechanisms, amplify diverse voices, and ensure sustained advocacy on critical issues.

After many meetings, discussions, and consultations with ASEAN CSOs, an Advisory Paper was issued to the Prime Minister of Malaysia as the leader of the Chair of ASEAN. The Advisory Paper was developed with contributions from 18 thematic groups or clusters. Altogether, 180 regional CSOs have endorsed the Advisory Paper.

In this regard, Humanists Malaysia’s objective is to normalize as well as to advocate humanism in ASEAN, as it is a relatively alien concept in ASEAN.

A Malaysian CSO leads each thematic group. Humanists Malaysia leads the Freedom of Thought, Conscience & Belief thematic group, endorsed & supported by:

Burmese Atheists;
Filipino Freethinkers;
Humanist Alliance Philippines, International;
Humanist Society (Singapore); and
Sisters in Islam, a Malaysian CSO which is working towards advancing the rights of Muslim women in Malaysia. In essence, it is led by religious moderates.

If you think about it, it is mind-blowing that Sisters in Islam would ally itself to humanists in ASEAN. But in furtherance of the recommendations below, it has decided to do so.

In the Advisory Paper, we recommend that ASEAN Member States:

1. Protect equality, non-discrimination, freedom of and from religion and belief, and human rights across ASEAN;
2. Ensure separation of religion and state to foster tolerance and inclusivity, and prevent religious extremism;
3. Uphold this fundamental right & the right to express non-religious views and to ensure equal treatment regardless of belief by reforming restrictive laws;
4. Integrate humanism, human rights education, and critical thinking into ASEAN school systems, fostering awareness and respect for diversity with regional resources and national policies supporting this initiative; and
5. Build mutual understanding through cultural exchange and dialogue, including in educational institutions, to combat religious discrimination.

How the Advisory Paper is written is that all 180 CSOs support all of the thematic recommendatons, including the humanist recommendations above, thereby giving humanism an endorsement that is sorely needed in ASEAN, where the philosophy of humanism is generally alien & unknown and where five member states do not have a humanist organization which is a member or associate of Humanists International. Another country in South-East Asia, Timor Leste, awaits its admission to ASEAN; it too does not have a humanist organization which is a member or associate of Humanists International.

Finally, on the 3rd of February, the lead CSOs of ASEAN Peoples had a good meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was chaired by the Ministry’s Secretary-General and was attended by relevant, senior officers in the Ministry. Each lead CSO, including Humanists Malaysia, was given the opportunity to address the meeting. This is undoubtedly unprecedented because humanists have never been represented as a group vis-a-vis ASEAN & the Government of Malaysia before (see photo above; the Secretary-General is seated, fourth from left and I am standing, third from left).