In a Fragmented World, ASEAN and Indonesia Can Help Restore Human Values Through Humanitarian Action
Paul McPhun, Director of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.
This year has not only highlighted the unprecedented scale of humanitarian needs, but has also exposed the alarming erosion of global solidarity. Empathy is fading, political will is hardening, and international cooperation is weakening precisely at the moment it is most needed.
The consequences are starkly visible:
Shattered hospitals in Gaza,
Communities trapped in conflict in Sudan, and
Rohingya families struggling to survive in refugee camps and densely populated urban settings across Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Amid these crises, the gap between needs and the world’s capacity to respond has never been wider—or more dangerous.
Even the replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria reflects this decline, with pledges falling far short as medicine supplies run low, health workers go unpaid, and preventable deaths continue to rise. Without renewed commitment, decades of hard-won progress are at risk of unraveling.
In this fractured global landscape, ASEAN—and Indonesia in particular—can play a vital role. As a bloc built on principles of cooperation, stability, and mutual support, ASEAN has the potential to help restore the belief that every human life holds equal value, regardless of where it is lived.
At a time when humanitarian action is increasingly politicized, privatized, and militarized, Indonesia, as one of ASEAN’s central pillars, can once again lead the region in upholding core principles that protect civilians, uphold human dignity, and ensure equitable access to healthcare.
Gaza: When a Ceasefire Is Not Enough
Despite the current ceasefire, medical and humanitarian needs in Gaza remain overwhelming. Most hospitals have been destroyed or severely damaged. Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams continue to treat large numbers of casualties, complex surgical cases, and children suffering from profound psychological trauma.
Children like Omar, a five-year-old evacuated to a Doctors Without Borders reconstructive surgery hospital in Amman, illustrate the collapse of Gaza’s health system. Many pediatric patients arrive malnourished and deeply traumatized, requiring months of surgeries, rehabilitation, and psychological support.
Even as the ceasefire holds, violence continues: Palestinians have reportedly been shot near the “yellow line” while attempting to return to their homes. Israel also continues to impose restrictions that significantly obstruct the entry of medical supplies, fuel, shelter materials, and other essential goods. A ceasefire without unhindered humanitarian access offers only partial relief; civilians remain at extreme risk.
Daily living conditions are dire. Overcrowded displacement sites, lacking adequate access to clean water and sanitation, have fueled a surge in respiratory, gastrointestinal, and skin infections. This is a predictable and preventable public health emergency, one that risks worsening as winter approaches.
Most concerning is the deliberate restriction of humanitarian response at the very moment it is needed most. Aid is treated as a political bargaining chip rather than a life-saving necessity. Doctors Without Borders calls for assistance to be delivered freely and solely on the basis of need, firmly rejecting any militarization of aid or the conditioning of assistance on political objectives.
Sudan: The World’s Largest and Most Neglected Humanitarian Crisis
Sudan is currently facing the largest and most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world. Doctors Without Borders supports more than 30 health facilities across 10 states, yet the scale of suffering far exceeds global response capacity. Since April 2023, more than 1.7 million people have sought care at MSF-supported clinics—clear evidence of a collapsing health system.
In Darfur, violence, starvation, and forced displacement have reached horrific levels. In Tawila, 75 percent of newly arrived children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition, with 25 percent experiencing severe acute malnutrition. Many arrive after months of siege and hunger.
In Zamzam Camp, Doctors Without Borders teams have treated hundreds of people for gunshot wounds, fractures, and injuries resulting from attacks targeting specific ethnic groups. Civilians recount being “killed, blocked, and hunted” as they attempted to flee.
Hospitals are frequently targeted. Facilities supported by Doctors Without Borders, including Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman and Kas Hospital in Darfur, have been destroyed, looted, or besieged by armed groups. Legal protections for medical facilities—and for those seeking and providing care—have effectively collapsed.
The indirect impacts of the conflict are no less devastating. Over the past two years, Doctors Without Borders has treated 174,000 cases of malaria, 89,100 cases of diarrhea, and thousands of measles patients. These outbreaks are driven by mass displacement, lack of access to clean water, and the collapse of immunization services.
Doctors Without Borders has also assisted with more than 35,300 childbirths, yet many women continue to arrive too late for care due to insecurity and long travel distances.
Rohingya: A Crisis Asia Can No Longer Ignore
Across Southeast Asia, the Rohingya crisis remains one of the most neglected humanitarian emergencies in the region. Nearly one million Rohingya people continue to survive in overcrowded and inadequate refugee camps in Bangladesh, while thousands more are displaced or in transit across Myanmar, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Funding cuts have drastically reduced essential services. Doctors Without Borders teams report rising cases of malnutrition, infectious diseases, anemia, and increasing mental health needs. Survivors of genocide now face worsening humanitarian conditions—not because of a lack of compassion from host communities, but due to declining international commitment.
In the absence of sustainable political solutions, countries in the region are left to shoulder the burden of a crisis that is increasingly ignored by the international community.
Why ASEAN’s Voice Matters Now
Amid a fragmented global order, ASEAN—and Indonesia in particular—can emerge as stable, constructive, and principled actors.
ASEAN member states have a long history of responding to displacement, hosting refugees, leading peacebuilding efforts, and supporting regional disaster response.
With diplomatic credibility that spans geopolitical divides, ASEAN occupies a unique position in an emerging multipolar world to advocate for humanitarian access—calling for unconditional and unhindered aid in Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar, and beyond.
ASEAN countries can reaffirm core humanitarian principles: that aid must be based solely on need and free from military or political interests. They can remind the world that no life is worth less simply because of where it is lived.
As 2025 draws to a close, the global humanitarian landscape is defined by record-high needs and record-low funding commitments.
ASEAN states must mobilize greater support wherever possible and, more importantly, use their credibility and political influence to pressure others to reverse this downward trend.
By speaking out firmly and collectively, the region can help restore human values through concrete action at a time when humanity itself appears to be fading.
Millions of people—from children in Gaza, to mothers in Sudan, to Rohingya families across Southeast Asia—cannot wait for global empathy to return.
Their survival depends on action now.