ASEAN Must Confront Widening Economic, Education Divergence - Gita Wirjawan

By Siti Radziah Hamzah

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 (Bernama) -- ASEAN must confront its widening economic and educational divergence to preserve the region’s centrality amid a fragmenting global landscape, said Ikhlas Capital founding partner and alternate chairman Gita Wirjawan.

He said while Southeast Asians were committed to enriching ASEAN’s centrality, the region faces a growing gap in income and education that threatens its long-term cohesion.

Gita noted that several member states still record per capita incomes below USD2,000 (USD1 = RM4.20), while one exceeds USD90,000, reflecting deep structural inequality that must be addressed collectively.

"We brag about diversity, which is positively connotated, but divergence is negatively connotated. There are a few countries in Southeast Asia that earn less than USD2,000 per capita per year and one country that earns more than USD90,000 per capita per year.

"Indonesia is only at USD5,000 while Malaysia is close to USD13,000. It is not yet piercing through the threshold of modernity," said Gita, a former Indonesian trade minister.

He said this during a panel session on "Strengthening ASEAN Centrality in a Time of Geo-economic Fragmentation” at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2025 (ABIS) here today.

Gita added that ASEAN's economic divide was mirrored in its education outcomes, with only Singapore and Vietnam surpassing the global average in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores, while the rest lagged behind.

PISA is a global programme whereby around 600,000 15-year-old students from different countries are put under a two-hour test to gauge their skills and knowledge, mainly in science, reading and mathematics.

PISA test questions do not gauge memorisation of facts but demand that students draw on real-world problem-solving skills and knowledge.

Gita also called for ASEAN to reconsider its long-held principle of non-interference, arguing that limited, purposeful intervention could help close the gap in educational attainment.

“Non-interference is beautiful, but I think interference, just for educational attainment convergence purposes, is imperative,” he added.

Gita suggested that ASEAN emulate Singapore’s education system as a regional benchmark, adapted to each country’s context and timeline, to build long-term human capital and competitiveness.

“Singapore has proven itself to be the great athlete in education on both non-tertiary and tertiary levels. Their university is in the top 20, and their PISA score has just toppled that of China; they are number one in the world,” he said.

He added that without addressing these structural issues, ASEAN risks remaining caught in symbolic gestures rather than achieving substantive progress.

“To the extent we do not address that, we are not going to be able to actualise what we aspire to. We will just keep on doing the ASEAN handshakes and not be able to tell the stories,” he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong said ASEAN must strengthen its position by remaining central in global supply chains, maintaining its middle-ground diplomacy, and building a strong middle class to ensure social stability and economic resilience.

He added that ASEAN’s role as a middle power must be preserved through balanced engagement with both the United States and China.

Liew also stressed that without efforts to strengthen the middle class, ASEAN could face growing social pressures, including generational discontent, and risk missing its demographic window of opportunity.

He added that creating better jobs, fostering social mobility and ensuring the region “gets rich before it gets old” were essential for sustaining ASEAN’s long-term stability and prosperity.

The two-day ABIS being held from today is hosted by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) with the theme "Unifying markets for shared prosperity".

The summit is organised in conjunction with the upcoming 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits.

-- BERNAMA