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The ASEAN Responsible Business Forum was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 27-29 October 2015. Close to 250 delegates and panellists attended the conference which was organised by the ASEAN CSR Network, Oxfam, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers and the ASEAN Foundation.
The three-day event yielded a host of interesting discussions, themes and ideas.
The Guest-of-Honour, YB Senator Datuk Paul Low, the Minister for Governance and Integrity, Prime Minister's Department, Malaysia, called for government and NGOs to work together as partners to solve the many problems in society today. Businesses are also called to be part of the stakeholders in tackling societal issues.
One of the exciting ideas which Senator Datuk Paul Low contributed was that he was prepared to commit Malaysia to be a test bed for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and to encourage all stakeholders to bring to reality some of the suggestions brought up at the forum.
He stressed that we had to deal with issues of corruption and governance and wants to create an integrity movement in Malaysia. One way to possibly manage this is to put in place guidelines such as the new ISO37001: Anti bribery Management System, which is being finalised, and which he was committed to implementing.
For more details of Senator Datuk Paul Low's ideas, please click here
Apart from the main forum on 28th October, we also conducted workshops on the 27th of October. One of the workshops was jointly organised by the ASEAN CSR Network (ACN) and Singapore Management University’s Asian Business & Rule of Law Initiative (SMU-ABRL).
The workshop discussions included implementing the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) and national action plans on Business and Human Rights in ASEAN, and a Due Diligence Project, which is a study aimed at providing practical recommendations for businesses with regard to their human rights due diligence. The Due Diligence Project is jointly carried out by the British Institute of International Comparative Law and Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.
For more details of the workshop, please click here
On the 29th of October 2015, ACN organised another workshop - "The harmonisation of business integrity standards and programmes in ASEAN." Around 70 participants from various stakeholder groups attended. The aim of the workshop was to engage in multi-stakeholder consultations on overcoming the challenges of collective action against corruption and to explore the possibility of harmonising standards in the ASEAN business community. For more details, please click here.
After the event, ACN and Oxfam issued a joint communique to ASEAN member states, the ASEAN Secretariat, and other ASEAN organisations, to reflect on the recommendations, aspirations and commitments discussed at the Forum. The intention is to provide a constructive and forward-looking statement to support ASEAN, relevant agencies and bodies, and other stakeholders engaged in shaping and implementing the ASEAN post-2015 vision and strategy.
To read the full communique, please click here.
We had also invited Malaysian and other ASEAN media to attend the event. Some of the media coverage can be found here.
At the Forum, we had taken photos of our distinguished panellists and delegates. You can catch a snapshot of the event on our Facebook page and also on our website.
In the coming weeks, we will be finalising our Forum report and also video snippets of panellists who spoke at the Forum. Do check the website for updates in the coming weeks..
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