Imagine this. Within the span of a generation, former enemy states transform into top trading partners, bound together by a loose political organisation that evolves into a close alliance across open seas and vast expanses of land as decades pass. Forebears, once sworn enemies in a bloody war, give way to their descendants who now interact, trade, and work with each other with a view to foster peace and prosperity.
No, this is not a plot from Netflix's Vikings: Valhalla series about 11th century Scandinavia. It was Southeast Asia after the late 1970s. Countries that once were foes have since come a long way from such a tumultuous period. Asean member states have indeed become the greater sum of their parts in this regional family grouping.
