Pustaka Ilmiah Universitas Padjadjaran

Abstrak

The Prospect and Threat of ASEAN Economic Community to The Trajectory of Rural Development in West Java

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) that takes effect immediately will transform ASEAN into a region with free movement of goods, services, investments, skilled labor, and capital flow. One of the goals is to construct economic cooperation which brings benefits to communities across Asean. Hopefully it would also have positive impact on rural areas in West Java which hold many problems such as poverty, inequality, and environment degradation. As an opportunity, AEC can be exploited in improving the living standards of rural communities. For example, there would be broadening market place for the agricultural sector due to Asean level investor intervention. However, the enforcement of the AEC can also bring threats. The cooperation would not necessarily based on equal relationship regarding the large companies behavior always focuses on profit seeking. When this happen, aspects of the society welfare could not be achieved, the environment would be damaged, and the inequality would rise. Therefore the AEC forum and the local government req uire necessary efforts to orient the program in favor of poverty reduction, inequalities elimination, and environmental preservation.