'ASEAN should be more like NATO'

'ASEAN should be more like NATO'

JAKARTA (JP): An American scholar says the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) should revamp its structure and
give its secretary-general greater executive power.

Donald E. Weatherbee of South Carolina University, in a
seminar titled Wither ASEAN? held on Thursday at the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), compared ASEAN with
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

He concluded that, for ASEAN to be more effective, the annual
administrative meeting of the association's secretariat should
involve ministers other than just the member-countries' foreign
ministers.

As an example of such a structure, Weatherbee cited NATO's
council, in which the secretary-general stands on an equal
footing with ambassadors or foreign ministers to NATO.

NATO, established in 1949, holds meetings twice a year which
are attended by foreign, defense and finance ministers of its
member states. NATO's council determines NATO's policies, assumes
financial and administrative responsibility for NATO on behalf of
the member states and supplies necessary linkages between NATO's
civilian and military bodies.

Weatherbee said ASEAN's secretariat should have an "executive
function", instead of serving merely as a clerical, bureaucratic
center.

"I think ASEAN should be able to make decisions, make policy,
and have a secretariat which sometimes has an executive function
and not just a clerical, bureaucratic, bookkeeping or agenda-
keeping function," Weatherbee said.

ASEAN was formed in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei became the sixth
member in 1984. Vietnam followed in July this year, as the first
communist state to join the association.

The ASEAN secretariat, which is based in Jakarta, was
established to provide for greater efficiency in the coordination
and implementation of policies, projects and activities of the
various ASEAN organs.

Its function is as the channel for formal communications
between various bodies and committees of ASEAN and between
governments and institutions.

It also serves as the focal point of communication between
foreign governments, organizations and the association.

ASEAN leaders in their last summit in Singapore three years
ago agreed to give the ASEAN secretary-general greater executive
power and that the position should be elevated a ministerial
level. They picked Dato' Ajit Singh, a senior Malaysian diplomat,
to become the first chief of the revamped secretariat.

Weatherbee, who specializes in the politics and international
relations of Southeast Asia, has taught at universities in ASEAN
countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

His most recent publications include Southeast Asia at Mid-
decade: Independence Through Interdependence in Southeast Asian
Affairs 1995.

He said that unless ASEAN becomes more formally structured,
reaching consensus on various issues will become more difficult.

All ASEAN decisions are made on a consensus basis. (01)