The Birth of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

NAS is pleased to announce that archival records related to “The Birth of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)” were successfully inscribed into UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MoW) International Register on 17 April 2025. This nomination was jointly submitted by the National Archives of Singapore (NAS), the National Archives of Malaysia, the National Archives of Indonesia, and the Thai Film Archives, with the support of the members of the Southeast Asian Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (SARBICA).

This marks Singapore’s and NLB’s first inscription into UNESCO’s MoW International Register. The inscription’s archives span the years of 1967 to 1976 and chronicle the establishment of ASEAN by its five founding countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The collection contains 33 records, including the 1967 ASEAN Declaration, and in total features 16 textual files, one photo, one film, three audio files, and 12 oral history interview recordings.

These archives underscore ASEAN’s mission to foster cultural development in Southeast Asia, building mutual trust and active collaboration among neighbouring countries. They also serve as evidence that newly independent, relatively small countries have their own agency in shaping international policies toward a more peaceful and stable landscape.