The Past: Rationalising ‘English-Only’ in ASEAN

Chapter 4 offers insights into the process of language policy and planning in ASEAN, seeking to explain why and how English was chosen as the sole working language. The chapter provides an account of the under-researched LPP process, drawing chiefly on data from the interview participants and analysis of policy documents. We highlight the key factors which led to ASEAN authorities to choose English, initially as a de-facto, and later, a de-jure working language. Adding a critical angle to our theoretical perspectives, this chapter offers a complex explanation for the choice of ‘English-only’ in a particular historical and geopolitical context.