New secretary general at crucial point for ASEAN

Chin Kin Wah Senior Fellow Institute of Southeast Asian Studies The Straits Times Asian News Network Singapore

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will have a new man in Jakarta next month when Ong Keng Yong, press secretary to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, succeeds Rodolfo Severino of the Philippines as ASEAN secretary-general.

The last Singaporean in the post was Chan Kai Yau, a former Director of Education who occupied the post 18 years ago. The job is rotated in alphabetical order among ASEAN member states.

Until 1992 when major amendments were made to the post's status and length of tenure, the office-holder was secretary- general of the ASEAN Secretariat, not the secretary-general of ASEAN. This fine distinction, not often appreciated even within the region, reflected the loose institutional structure of ASEAN at the time, when most of the essential work was decentralized at the national level.

It was customary then to point out that ASEAN was not about regional integration, only cooperation. This left the ASEAN Secretariat with very limited functions, which encouraged critics to describe it as a "glorified post office" and its top occupant as someone who was "neither secretary nor general". Initially, his term of office was only for two years, extended to three in 1985.

Much has changed since. With the re-designation of the post in 1992, the secretary-general was elevated from ambassadorial to ministerial rank. His term of office was further extended from three to five years. If present rules of appointment prevail and given ASEAN's 10 members, it will be 45 years before another Singaporean fills the post.

There are provisions for further extending the secretary- general's term of appointment, but ASEAN governments will probably be reluctant to do so as this would delay their turns at the helm.

The rising profile of the secretary-general reflects the secretariat's bigger and more important workload. The phasing-in of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), the expansion in regional membership with the addition of Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia and a growing recognition of the need for closer regional integration: all these mean that the secretariat increasingly has to initiate, advise, coordinate and implement ASEAN activities.

Because ASEAN is not a supra-national organization, the secretary-general's role is still circumscribed by sovereign member governments. The secretary-general, although a nominee of his home government, is there to promote the region's interests, not those of his own country. Ong will necessarily be sensitive to these considerations.

His task will be challenging. The changeover at the ASEAN Secretariat occurs at a time when the region is struggling to recover from the crisis of 1997/1998, which broke just when his predecessor, Severino, was settling into the post. Severino, much to his credit, worked to ensure that ASEAN did not disappear from the radar screens of international observers and investors, even though many thought the region had lost its effectiveness and relevance.

Ong also takes over at a juncture when international terrorism is damaging investor and tourist confidence in the region, leading to a perception of ASEAN as an undifferentiated region of turbulence and uncertainty. He intends to correct this distorted view, and is making it his priority to "get investors to come, get business people to come".

But promoting ASEAN does not mean for trade and investment purposes only, although these are important. Just as important is getting ASEAN known to its peoples -- a task that has not diminished in urgency after 35 years as a regional association. Indeed, the need to cultivate a sense of regional community and identity has become even more important with the arrival of new members who need to be brought into the regional mainstream.

The continued dark clouds hanging over the region may tempt some to question ASEAN's relevance, but it should be said that ASEAN is not just about economic cooperation alone. Its success was in ensuring a politically stable and orderly regional environment through tested habits of conflict avoidance and containment, and the ASEAN way of arriving at consensus through consultation. That stability in turn facilitated economic growth and prosperity.

This aspect of regional cooperation has not been diminished. Nor should it be taken for granted -- which is where the secretariat's role as regional public educator comes into the picture.

Given China's economic ascendancy and the need for ASEAN to reclaim its competitiveness, there is scant alternative but to move towards greater economic integration. Will there be life after Afta? What are the implications of proliferating free trade agreements for ASEAN itself? Will it move on to being an ASEAN economic community? How should integration evolve, given the unique and diverse circumstances of the region? These are questions that need study, analysis and informed debate, which the regional secretariat can facilitate.

Finally, if ASEAN exists ultimately for the peoples of ASEAN, what does the regional association mean for them? Civil society groups seek a bigger part to play in socio-economic cooperation. The second ASEAN People's Assembly, a gathering of non- governmental organizations held in Bali in late August this year, heard calls for the ASEAN Secretariat to be a bridge between the aspirations of people on the one hand and the association of nation states on the other.

Not all expectations can be realistically met, nor can the secretary-general exceed the mandate given to him by the grouping's leaders, but there is still more he can do to further the region's interests.