Limit on secretary-general term 'must be transparent'
By Santi WE Soekanto & Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
PETALING JAYA (JP): Outgoing ASEAN Secretary General Dato Ajit Singh said it should be made transparent if member states want a secretary general to serve only one term.
"Let it be known clearly before the secretary general comes in that he's only there for one term so at least he knows from the beginning that is his fixed term and then he can prepare himself," Ajit Singh said here yesterday.
Speaking a day after ASEAN ministers announced that he would be replaced by Philippine undersecretary for foreign affairs Rodolfo Severino, Ajit said he was in favor if ministers wanted to make such limitations, but such conditions should be made clear beforehand.
"If there's agreement among the member countries that the secretary general's term is one term, then it makes it easier for everybody and we would not have to go through the sort of situation that I was faced with," Ajit Singh told The Jakarta Post.
ASEAN leaders in 1992 elevated the usually administrative post of the secretary general to ministerial status. The selection of the candidate was also changed from a rotational basis to one based on merit with no limitations on the number of terms served.
Based on these changes, Ajit Singh was renominated for the five-year post which ends in December. If elected he would have been the first secretary general to serve two terms.
In customary conciliatory fashion, ASEAN ministers avoided an open vote in selecting the candidate. Instead, Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas was assigned to privately seek the views of member states and tally who had more support.
ASEAN currently groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
According to an Indonesian official, ministers apparently did desire someone to serve two-terms as secretary general.
When asked whether he thought the decision had now set a precedent, Ajit Singh said: "This now will have to be left to the ministers to decide whether they will amend the protocol."
Speaking to journalists earlier, Ajit Singh reminisced fondly on the past five years.
"I have enjoyed working as secretary general of ASEAN... I have had a good run," he said.
Asked whether he would still be involved in ASEAN activities when Severino takes over his seat on Jan. 1, 1997, Ajit Singh said: "I can't really get ASEAN out of my life... I will always be available to assist in anyway I can.
"In the 33 years that I've been involved with diplomacy, eight years have been with ASEAN. And therefore this has been a very intense involvement in ASEAN," he said.
In a tone of relief rather than disappointment at knowing the outcome of the election, he said he had "no remorse or sorrow over the decision taken".
In typical ASEAN camaraderie, Ajit Singh hailed Severino's election. "I think it's a good idea that the stewardship is run by someone else."