ASEAN Cooperation Director-General I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja and the UGM Rector Pratikno signed an agreement to that effect here on Thursday.
Wesaka Puja noted that Gadjah Madah would be the first Indonesian university to have an ASEAN Studies Centre.
"The centre is a place for academics and the community to exchange knowledge and experiences relating to crucial issues in the ASEAN region, as well as for studying about South East Asian countries," he said.
The study centre is important because Indonesia does not yet have a study centre that focuses on ASEAN affairs. Besides, there are many challenges ahead of the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.
"There are many study centres focusing on countries such as Japan and China, but there is nothing yet on ASEAN, which is the key organisation for so many Asian countries," he stated.
Wesaka also pointed out that many European countries and the US now considered the ASEAN to be `a global power centre`.
"Therefore, it is not appropriate for Indonesia as part of the ASEAN community to not focus on ASEAN and have no dedicated study centres for it," he explained.
According to Wesaka, the ASEAN Study Centre will focus not only on political security and social culture, but also on developing a strong economy.
"The Gadjah Mada University was appointed as the first study centre because of its expert human resources and its presence in Yogyakarta, which represents the culture of Indonesia," he noted.
Meanwhile, Pratikno said the existing study centres in Indonesian universities only focused on the social cultures of South East Asian countries.
"But not a single institution is focusing on ASEAN, whereas it is important in order for the country to achieve its 2015 ASEAN Economic Community targets," he added.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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