Greater effort is needed to bridge the gap between governments and civil society in ASEAN. There is a need among the people of ASEAN to create an authentic Southeast Asian community. Communities, after all, are about people-and the ties that hold these human groupings together are neither faceless institutions nor impersonal agreements but mutual commitments freely given. Communities are about caring and sharing; about people ‘owning,’ in common, a collective venture. Communities are also about belonging, about being attached to a place and a way of life. Communities are about sharing interests with like-minded people.