The Emblem of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is the emblem of

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

adopted in July 1997 together with the ASEAN flag. Although the current emblem was already in use for years, the official guidelines were adopted at the 6th Meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

, 8 April 2010.Guidelines on the Use of the ASEAN Emblem

Design

Construction

Set upon a red circle background, ten yellow paddy or

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

stalks are drawn in the middle. Under the rice stalks the organisation name abbreviation 'asean' is written in

lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

bold

Helvetica Helvetica (originally Neue Haas Grotesk) is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann. Helvetica is a neo-grotesque design, one influenced by the famous 19th century (1890s) ...

font in blue. The red circle is drawn with a white and blue circumference. The colours of the emblem are specified as follows:

Symbolism

# The ASEAN Emblem represents a stable, peaceful, united and dynamic ASEAN. The colours of the Emblem — blue, red, white and yellow — represent the main colours of the state crests of all the ASEAN Member States. # Blue represents peace and stability, red depicts courage and dynamism, white shows purity and yellow symbolises prosperity. # The ten bound stalks of rice in the centre of the Emblem represent the member states of ASEAN. They represent the dream of ASEAN's Founding Fathers for an ASEAN comprising all the countries in Southeast Asia, bound together in friendship and solidarity. # The circle represents the unity of ASEAN.

History

The design was based on

, the staple food and probably the most important crop for the Southeast Asian people. Since ancient times, rice has been associated with prosperity, welfare, and wealth. This corresponds to the vision of the founding fathers of ASEAN to create a peaceful and prosperous region in Southeast Asia. The current design is derived from the previous emblem, also featuring a bundle of ''padi'' rice stalks bound together in unity. There were previously six rice stalks to represent the five founding nations of ASEAN (

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

), plus

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

(joined on 8 January 1984). The old emblem background was white. The name "asean" was placed under the rice stalks in the centre of a yellow circle with a cyan circumference. Both the circle border and "asean" letters were in cyan, while the rice stalks were in golden brown. After the expansion of ASEAN members with the admission of Vietnam on 28 July 1995, motivated by the vision of ASEAN comprising all ten Southeast Asian nations, there was a suggestion to update the emblem and flag of ASEAN with the addition of four more rice stalks to represent the whole ten ASEAN nations. The three remaining nations, Laos, Burma, and Cambodia, were scheduled to join ASEAN in July 1997. To commemorate this auspicious event, the new emblem of ASEAN was unveiled. Laos and Burma (Myanmar) joined on 23 July 1997, however, the admission of Cambodia was postponed to 30 April 1999 due to their internal political problems. Despite the Cambodian postponed membership, the ASEAN new emblem still consisted of ten rice stalks and was unveiled in July 1997.

References

Guidelines on the Use of the ASEAN Emblem

Notes

External links

{{Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often us ...

Symbols introduced in 1997