Farewell to Severino

Farewell to Severino

Outgoing Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) Rodolfo C. Severino Jr. has done his
utmost, not only in strengthening relations between the 10 member
countries of the regional grouping but also in promoting the
significance and role of ASEAN in international politics.

The many speeches he made in world capitals such as Beijing,
Brussels, Canberra, New Delhi, Tokyo and Wellington, have given a
wider horizon to the people of those countries of the growing
role that ASEAN has played and will be playing in the world
arena.

This is shown in the collection of speeches made during his
four-year tenure as the Association's secretary-general and
published by the ASEAN Secretariat last year under the title
ASEAN Faces the Future.

Given by a diplomat of international caliber like Severino --
who has held diplomatic posts in China, Malaysia, and the U.S. --
the speeches contain sincere descriptions of what ASEAN can and
cannot do in this era of globalization. They also indicate how
ASEAN spirit and solidarity has been able to cope with the
various problems confronted by the grouping that, at times,
produced conflicts of interest between some of its member
countries.

It is true that most of the problems solved were due to the
understanding and goodwill of member countries in maintaining
their ASEAN friendship and unity, but it is also true that the
secretary-general has played a key role in mediating, if not
supervising, the conflicting parties to reach a just and final
solution.

Doubtless, no member country will ever forget Severino's hard
work for and contribution to ASEAN, given the fact that he
assumed the post in January 1998, a hard time for most of the
member countries, as they were plagued by economic crises, not to
mention the dramatic political changes that took place in
Indonesia, the largest country in ASEAN.

Under such conditions, strenuous efforts were required to
strengthen the secretariat's function while maintaining members
of ASEAN as a cohesive force to face changes and challenges. This
was well demonstrated by Severino and his staff at the
secretariat.

The past four years have also witnessed closer cooperation
between ASEAN member countries in many areas, from traditional
economic and political fields to new ones like information
technology and communicable diseases, as well as fighting a new
threat: terrorism, which appears to have become widespread in
some parts of the Southeast Asian region.

ASEAN members, we believe, will readily take their hats off to
Severino, and we send him our best wishes when he leaves his post
in January to return to the Philippines, his home country.

We also welcome Severino's successor, Ong Keng Yong, a
seasoned Singaporean diplomat, who will officially become ASEAN's
secretary-general on Jan. 6 2003.

Many problems have been resolved, many roads have been taken
to make ASEAN what it is now, yet more has to be done to enable
the regional grouping to keep up with new changes and challenges.