One of the ASEAN’S principal aims and purposes as stated in the Bangkok Declaration of the 1967 is the promotion of Southeast Asia Studies. In the past proposals for an ASEAN Studies programme could not take off because of the lack of suitable source materials in this field.

In order to meet this urgent need to promote Southeast Asia studies, to inculcate greater awareness of ASEAN and the various aspects of ASEAN cooperation with this ASEAN studies publication series, which aims to produce basic source on ASEAN nations including arts, economy, government, religion, history, social organization and customs, educational system, and other institutions of ASEAN.

Each volume contains authoritative critical essays on a particular ASEAN cultural form in each member country, written by scholars in that particular field. The essays describe the form, its types and sub-types; traces its history and development from the earliest times to the present, highlighting the social, economic, and other factors that influenced the development of the form; discusses the function and significance of the art form in past and present societies; and finally, discusses the prospects of the context of the nation’s cultural developments, while a general bibliography gives both the references used by the essay and other sources for further research.