[video id=" https://youtu.be/9n1oA24l0fg" type="youtube"]

#VoicesfromCLMV is the hashtag that journalists from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam created for this story series they are part of in the Reporting ASEAN program, its founder/editor Johanna Son said at the April editorial workshop of the CLMV Integration Series. She also said it was not possible to discuss storytelling related to ASEAN without paying tribute to former ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo Severino, who passed away earlier in the month.

SINGAPORE (IPS Asia-Pacific) – Say ‘ASEAN’ and South-east Asians are likely to know of their main regional organisation. But this good recall does not always mean they understand how ASEAN really works, its kind of regionalism, or how this relates to their governments’ policies or their daily lives.

There is a lot of discussion in the media and public space about ASEAN, but there are also many misconceptions about the regional organisation, says Rodolfo Severino, Head of the ASEAN Studies Centre.