ASEAN in BRICS: Another Piece of the Jigsaw in the Indo-Pacific Vision?

The enlargement of BRICS countries has been touted as a challenge to the primacy of the Western world order by introducing de-dollarization to conduct multilateral or bilateral transactions between them. What is BRICS? Why does its enlargement appear threatening to the US and an extension of its strategic allies? BRICS is a group of emerging economies that was originally a multilateral bloc consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It was then expanded to include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the UAE in 2024. Recently Indonesia was abducted as a full member despite being approved for full entry in 2023. This was arguably a strategic ‘wait and see’ move from the then Indonesia President Jokowi’s administration which anticipated the rise of the Monroe doctrine, which characterises international relations by isolations precipitated by the surge of Donald Trump for the US presidency.

Indonesia as a presumptive normative leader of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was a key agenda-setter in the region having been the proponent of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) in 2019. While AOIP becomes a long-term geoeconomic and geostrategic blueprint, Southeast Asia faces a series of complex geopolitical contractions from within and beyond which led them to recalibrate priorities in the Indo-Pacific. Indonesia was not alone, Malaysia, and Thailand are poised for full membership in the search for a more equitable platform. Malaysia’s Premier Anwar Ibrahim inferred that joining BRICS was a strategic step in building a formidable bloc and expanding ASEAN’s reach globally. Projection beyond Southeast Asia also demonstrates frustration over the US's active decoupling to soft power following massive withdrawals from various global commitments including the dismantling of the USAID that used to be the cornerstone of US public diplomacy. India’s external minister Jaishankar emphasized this as a ‘decisive time for the global south’ as the world autonomously seeks to restructure from an inconducive global governance.

From a broader perspective, BRICS establishment and enlargement was one of the many features of a multipolar and multi-regional world, where regional blocs project autonomy based on their intensities and geopolitical realities. For Southeast Asia, this geopolitical reshuffling may project an institutional change in its Indo-Pacific vision. In a similar vein, this could be a steady move from the traditional non-alignment leadership to a strategic alignment with the non-western world to create an alternative to the passing American world order without having to contest them. A stable international order enables a multitude of actors and agencies to co-exist, as exemplified in the peaceful rise of multilateral groupings such as the QUAD and AUKUS, without having to impose domination.