• 
• 

The secretariat is an appropriate place to inaugurate the charter as it has given a much-needed new identity to Asean and bestows more mandates and roles to its chief, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, as well as his office.

In retrospect, one wondered aloud if the charter's drafting process could have been a bit different. A question has been asked frequently: would the charter have become a more people-oriented document if the drafters - instead of being government officials - were selected from professional and expert groups? Even now, the bone of contention remains that the charter should have been more open in embracing universal values and norms. After all, all 10 members are also UN members and have subscribed to principles of the 60-year-old Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international bills of rights.

Learning from the charter drafting process, the current Asean chair has been working extremely hard to ensure that views from all strata within the grouping, especially the non-official sector, would be debated and reflected by the drafters in preparing the terms of reference for the Asean human rights body. Although the rough draft has been completed, further amendments are possible if Asean foreign ministers have vetted the document.

When the Asean ministers meet at a special session today, they could immediately transform into a new body known, if they wish, as Asean Coordinating Council (ACC) according to the charter. Caretaker Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Mun Patanotai, will represent Thailand in Jakarta.

Asean citizens and their civil society organisations should scrutinise the role of the ACC because of its wide-ranging power and duties. It will serve as the key body to prepare and fix the agenda for the Asean summit and coordinate the implementation of agreements and the summit's decisions. The ACC also supervises the Committee of Permanent Representatives to Asean. After the charter enters into force today, members have to appoint their Permanent Representative to Asean with the rank of ambassador based in Jakarta.

At the moment, four dialogue partners have already appointed their Asean envoys. The US was first in appointing Scot Marcie as the envoy followed by Australia (Gillian Bird), New Zealand (Ambassador Philip Gibson) and Japan (Ambassador Yoshinori Katori). Both China and Korea are expected to announce their envoys at the upcoming summit. Other dialogue partners are expected to follow suit soon.

After five years of implementation in 2014, the Asean members will have the opportunity to propose amendments to the charter if they find it wanting. That would come one year ahead of the full integration of the Asean Community scheduled for 2015. There could be new or lingering issues the member states need to address and iron out. Proposed changes have to be first vetted and approved by the ACC before they are forwarded to the Asean leaders for consideration at the summit.

Another main task of the ACC is to make sure Asean runs smoothly and with consistency. Any change in the terms of reference and rules of procedure in the conduct of Asean activities would need the ACC support. In case, the Asean decision-makers do not want to wait that long, their leaders can call for the charter's review or amendments at any time.

Unlike the Asean of yesteryears, the grouping's leaders have to be "hands-on" and "forward-looking" concerning issues related to the well-being of Asean. They have to do their homework as issues involved are more complex and attend two summits annually. The first one in mid-year will focus on Asean affairs exclusively. The second meeting at the year-end is between the leaders of Asean and their counterparts from dialogue-partner countries. Whenever it is necessary, they could meet in a special summit outside the region such as the recent one in October in Beijing during the Asia-Europe Meeting to tackle the global financial crisis. They also have to make decisions on sensitive issues that their foreign ministers could not settle.

Unfortunate as it is, the 14th summit has been delayed and the call for an earlier summit has not yet been settled. Next year, Asean is going to have three summits, which is probably one too many. For years, the Asean leaders thought that their decisions are not needed because their foreign ministers have done a good job handling issues that have come their way. But as transnational issues such as the global financial crisis, food and energy security, climate change, anti-terrorism are taking a central stage, the summit meetings have become indispensable.

Opposition party leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, said Friday that if he becomes the country's 27th prime minister today, he would move the summit up to early February. Thailand, he reiterated, would accord top priority to Asean as it is the main pillar of Thai foreign policy. He would ensure that Thailand worked harder to compensate the delay and other anxieties caused by the political uncertainties after the country served as the Asean chair last July. He wants to reclaim the country's honour both as the chair and a pro-active member.