Asian Angle | What can East Timor bring to Asean as its eleventh member?
The newest member of the Asean bloc could be its most optimistic, bringing a renewed focus on international law and unity
For the first time, the 2025 edition of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute’s State of Southeast Asia survey asked elite opinion leaders from East Timor about their perceptions of geopolitics and other driving forces, alongside respondents from the 10 Asean states. Comprising 3.3 per cent of the 2,033 respondents, East Timor’s sample had the largest share of those aged 22-35 and 36-45 years old (almost 80 per cent) and those affiliated with regional or international organisations, of the 11 national samples.
Results show that East Timor may be more aligned with Asean than some might have previously thought. When asked to choose their top three (of eight) challenges facing the region, Timorese respondents chose “climate change and more extreme weather events” (77.3 per cent) as the most serious, with “rising income inequality” second (60.6 per cent) and “unemployment and economic recession” third (57.6 per cent).
Given the consistency of this ranking with the region’s, Asean may not need to be overly concerned that East Timor would pursue different interests vis-a-vis the region.