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The Somchai government only thought that this northern city, the stronghold of People Power Party, would provide a better and secure environment for the foreign dignitaries to meet for two days and fly off quickly. Chiang Mai is also a popular tourist destination and deeply traditional and cultural.After the latest round of assessment of the political situation and schedules of leaders attending the series of summits, the government decided to split the event between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The Asean Global Dialogue, the Asean-CEO summit and the Asean Civil Society Conference will be held in Bangkok. The 3rd UN-Asean Summit is expected to be held in Bangkok after the audience with H.M. the King in the late afternoon of November 17. The rest will be in Chiang Mai

Since key leaders attending the global dialogue, especially those from leading financial institutes, will arrive in Bangkok and some of them will leave within hours, it would be a logistic nightmare to place such a forum away from the hub of connecting flights. So too would be the civil society meeting that will take place ahead of the summit, attended by several hundred representatives from Asean-based civil society groups.

Miraculously, the host's reputation was saved over the weekend. Taking advantage of Asean Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan's attendance at a UN meeting in New York last week, Thailand 's instrument of ratification for the Asean Charter was presented to Surin by Ambassador Don Paramudvinai, Thailand's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. The Philippines also did the same in New York while Indonesia deposited its instrument only days earlier at the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta. Finally all ten member states have ratified the Asean Charter, making it possible for the Asean leaders to celebrate the entering into force of their basic document when they gather in Chiang Mai in mid-December.

Since both Somchai and Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat are too preoccupied with their own survival and that of their exiled boss, Thaksin Shinawatra, through maverick campaigns to push for constitutional amendments, the summit's agenda and contents are being handled by the Asean Secretariat and the ministry's Asean Department. Obviously, both leaders are not capable of providing any leadership role.

Whatever shortfalls Somchai and Sompong have in playing these roles,Surin is filling in. Fortunately enough, Surin is a Thai citizen. As a former foreign minister and with nearly three decades of political experience, he knows Thai politics like the back of his hand. His discreet but powerful recommendations were welcome and taken up without any reservations by the host. Indeed, his ideas helped to heighten the importance of this summit meeting. The Asean Global Dialogue (AGD) is one of them. Surin used his extensive connections in government and international financial institutions to help pull this one off.

The AGD is designed to raise the profile of Asean and its East Asian Summit partners, (China, Japan, S. Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand). Each head of the global institutions, i.e. the World Bank, ADB, WTO, UNCTAD, IMF and the UN, is expected to provide his own vision of the global challenges and their remedies. Equally important will be how they each see the role of Asean and East Asia in the search for future solutions to those global malaises.

Since taking office early this year, Surin has been working non-stop to raise the Asean profile in every forum in and outside of the region. Thanks to the charter's new mandate, Surin has been able to speak and act on behalf of Asean more than before. Coming from the same country as the host, communications and facilitations work out quite smoothly and without prejudices.

Four Dialogue partners (US, Australia, Japan and New Zealand) have already appointed "ambassadors to Asean." Two more are completing their internal formalities to designate theirs. All are being invited to the opening and open activities of the Asean summit. "People outside our region take us very seriously. An intergovernmental organisation with its own legal personality means very much to the international community," Surin said recently. He said they all wanted Asean to succeed because "they would have one less region to worry about," as the Asean chief is fond of saying. But the true meaning of Asean in the eye of the international community came with the onslaught of Cyclone Nargis in early May. Asean was able to provide a diplomatic umbrella for international humanitarian assistance to the 2.5 million victims of that devastating cyclone. Asean credibility was saved with various donors, international institutions and non-governmental organisations having unprecedented access to the much affected Irrawaddy Delta.

But the recent spate of arrests and severely harsh verdicts on anti-government activists, including Buddhist monks, is threatening to wipe out any credibility and confidence Asean has earned for itself. In the coming weeks, if not days, the international community will certainly pay close attention to what the Asean leaders will have to say at their summit about their renegade member.

The challenges are mounting. The expectations are high. And the task is daunting. The question is: Will Thailand, as chair of Asean, rise to the occasion? Scepticism abounds.

It will be very unfortunate if the Chiang Mai summit cannot reap all the benefit from the momentum that has been set in motion since the Asean Charter was signed. Even more disappointing would be the host's failure, for whatever reason, to take full advantage of the opportunity and provide leadership for and infuse a new dynamism into a new chartered Asean.In more ways than one, Somchai and Sompong Amornwiwat will have their work cut out for them. The stake is not only Thailand's reputation, but also Asean's credibility.