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.