Haystack | Countryhumans ASEAN

journal [🇧🇳🇸🇬]

[edited: june 30 ;; corrected translation at dec 17, 2022]

"Welcome to ASEAN, Brunei Darussalam," Thailand noted, as she shook the new member country's hand. "You have been officially accepted as our first non-founder member in the organization, hopefully you can contribute as much as we do from now on." The fellow country, wearing her national costume (the baju kurung), shook it back, then backed off. She would start having a casual conversation with the Philippines after.

ASEAN wasn't really a part of their discussion, so he decided to stay put at his seat at the corner. He never was part of the discussion of new members joining anyway, he wasn't allowed to discuss over it yet. He also doesn't really mind any members joining, he just want the organization safe during the cold war.

Brunei herself just gained independence a few months ago, and so far is doing great as a small and new country. She is informing laws as strong as ever, and her economy was doing really well. ASEAN was happy that there was at least one country younger than him to say so the least.

As the conference ended, all of the countries decided to walk home. Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia headed out first to do something else related to political scandals. Thailand then walked out of the room later on, after grabbing some files. That leaves Singapore and Brunei talking to each other.

Conference aftermaths are literally the most awkward time to stand up and talk. The organization would often be left behind in certain modern topics. He wasn't really the talkative type (yet), so if told to talk outside work, he would often stammer or just don't respond, which isn't surprising as he never really talks in meetings in the first place. Although, his confidence to communicate sort of improved since EU came to his career, the European even considered him as a 'friend' outside of the organizational activities, ASEAN doesn't consider him as a friend yet.

He was just doing his normal thing on the corner, reading a book about history. He is somehow fascinated reading about it, especially Asian history and the conflicts erupting from it. Although it doesn't come a surprise to many since he is an Asian organization after all, but it was due to the fact a peace maker was reading about wars and liked them... somehow.

He was in the middle of reading the history of Malaysia during World War II. As he flipped to the next page, he then got approached by the new member, and Singapore.

Singapore was one of his founding members. He was the youngest of the group (before it being Brunei) and the one that contributed the most in the association so far. He was his loyal follower and the most hardworking in the group, despite on how small his country is. He was also known for being relatively close to Brunei, as they actually both had similar experiences with Malaysia.

"Hey, ASEAN!" The country-state called, approaching the white-colored organization with some sort of... Brown box?

Brunei actually was behind him, probably a little nervous to talk to ASEAN face to face. It was normal to see for ASEAN though, people get nervous when he's around.

"Hai, Singapura. What do you need?" He asked with a hoarse voice. He hasn't spoke in the entire conference, in fact he barely spoke that entire day. The earlier meeting was literally about someone being his new member. That reasoning alone could explain his deep voice at that moment.

The newer member behind the bi-colored country gave off a confused look. "He talks?"

"Yes- Erm sir- I just really want to give you something for outside of work purposes," he stated. "If... You don't mind, of course."

ASEAN paused for a little bit, putting the bookmark on the page he just flipped and closed it. He sighed, "Alright, Singapore. Also please don't call me 'sir' if we're outside of work."