KUALA LUMPUR (April 1): A prominent leader in Southeast Asia has said that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is doomed to split.

Acting president of Cambodia’s opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party Sam Rainsy was quoted by US-based political journalism company Politico Influence on Thursday (March 31) as saying "Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore will [regroup] against the block of autocratic regimes Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand."

“I think that Asean is doomed to split … and the moment of truth will come soon if nothing changes,” he was quoted as saying.

Rainsy was previously reported in May 2021 as saying Asean’s creation in 1967 served a real purpose “but the world has changed profoundly over the last 50 years”.

“Asean has failed to keep pace and has become an outdated relic, an enemy rather than an engine of progress,” he had said during the launch of the South East Asia Community (SEAC).

He was further reported as saying then that in recent years, Asean has simply appeared to be a club for dictators whose interests are opposed to those of the people they oppress.

On the need for SEAC, Rainsy said the new group would ensure citizens in the region enjoy free and fair elections.

“It will not be a club for authoritarian leaders helping each other to consolidate their power and oppress their people,” he had said.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden's administration aborted the US-Asean Summit, which was postponed indefinitely last week due to unspecified scheduling problems.

Of particular interest is the fact that three days after Politico Influence revealed on last Friday that the White House was scrubbing the summit, scheduled for March 28-29, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry announced its own four-day mini-summit of foreign ministers from key Asean states Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines and Indonesia.