Rise to the occasion, PM urges Asean leaders

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday urged Asean leaders to rise to the occasion in coping with challenges posed by the "awoken" peoples of the regional grouping following the promulgation of the Asean Charter.

"The 570 million people of Asean have been awoken. They will demand their share, their ownership and their role in the process," he said in his opening speech at the 14th Asean Summit here.

"How we intend to manage this new reality is of crucial important to all of us," he said.

The 10-country grouping needs to make Asean more people-centred, with the setting up of a regional human-rights body by end of October "a big step in the right direction".

Abhisit deliberately used the term "protection and promotion" instead of the normal "promotion and protection" of human rights as he wanted to highlight the importance of protection.

This is a key factor in attaining the goals of the Asean Community, but most Asean countries prefer to stress promotion rather than protection.

Before the opening speech, a short documentary film was shown on the evolution of Asean over the past 42 years.

The prime minister narrated the film and used his youthfulness and his Asean dream as a vehicle to link the inspiration of the Asean founding fathers in the past to the present-day Asean and its current leaders present yesterday.

Abhisit stressed the importance of Asean's external relations with dialogue partners, especially those in East Asia. Given the current global economic downturn, he emphasised that Asean was on the brink |of an economic battle and recovery.

"We will be severely tested from now, both as a group and as a part of the broader Asian region."

He said that each Asean member brought to the table a wealth of experience, capabilities and assets which would be put to better use together than separately.

"The key is to work together to come up with Asean solutions to not only Asean problems but also the global challenges with regional implications."

Towards the end of his speech, he invoked the sense of belonging to Asean, saying: "I will join hands with fellow Asean citizens across the region to make Asean a household name, not only for the people of Southeast Asia but for those beyond."