Opening Remarks
by Secretary-General of ASEAN
Dr. Surin Pitsuwan
At the Opening Ceremony of the “ASEAN Awareness Survey” Discussion
The ASEAN Foundation
15 January 2008
Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation, Mr. Apichai Sunchindah
Incoming Executive Director, Dr. Filemon Uriarte
Former Secretary-General of ASEAN, H.E.Tan Sri Dato’ Ajit Singh
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to be here this morning. My congratulations to the ASEAN Foundation for initiating this project : “ASEAN Awareness Survey”. I thank Khun Apichai for sharing with me the initial report on this survey. I am keenly interested in hearing about what the researchers: Dr. Eric C. Thompsonof the National University of Singapore), and Dr. Chulanee Thianthai of Chulalongkorn University on this project think about their findings, particularly from the students’ viewpoints. Among the three pillars of ASEAN, the Socio-Cultural Community has been given the lowest attention although it is the most important pillar. As such, it is important to know where we are and how we can build a stronger bond for people to feel the ownership of ASEAN.
My initial perusal of the draft report found a few surprises, concerns and disappointments:
- the most common attitude towards ASEAN was “positive”;
- over 75% of students agreed with the statement “I feel I am a citizen of ASEAN” They may not know yet that the drafters of the ASEAN Charter felt that ASEAN was not yet ready to recognize the ASEAN “citizenship”, the way the European Union does recognize European citizenship; thus the ASEAN Charter is silent on the ASEAN citizenship;
- the positive sentiments were strongest in Laos, Cambodia and Viet Nam. I guess they are newcomers and get a lots of benefits by joining the group;
- the positive sentiment was weakest in Myanmar and Singapore;
- only 38.6% of the students in the Philippines could correctly identify the ASEAN flag -- this is quite serious, considering the fact that the Philippines was chairing ASEAN in 2006-2007, when this survey was conducted.
- and worse, only 38.5% of the Thai students knew the ASEAN flag. I am afraid I have a lot more public information work to do in my own country, Thailand !
The 10 Member Governments in ASEAN are taking active steps in building the ASEAN Community, with the goal of completing its initial phase in 2015. As you all know, the ASEAN Charter was signed last November, and its full ratification is expected to be achieved in time for ASEAN Leaders to celebrate its entry into force at the next ASEAN Summit in Bangkok towards the end of this year.
According to the Charter. One of ASEAN’s purposes is, [ and I quote ] “to promote a people-oriented ASEAN in which all sectors of society are encouraged to participate in, and benefit from, the process of ASEAN integration and community building;”
In order to convince the 567 million in ASEAN to join and support the community-building endeavour, they must first be informed of what ASEAN is all about; what important objectives ASEAN is trying to achieve. To be able to raise awareness of ASEAN, we need to consolidate our efforts to make sure that a growing number of these 567 million people feel ASEAN and would like to contribute to ASEAN. In order to achieve this, we need a network across the sectors in every ASEAN Member State, which includes professional groups, civil society organizations, other stakeholders and well-wishers. But most of all, we count on the ASEAN citizens.
In this connection, I believe the ASEAN Foundation is one of the most important driving forces in this network to bring the ASEAN message to the people with resilience and confidence. I believe the ASEAN Foundation can play a growing role to support the building of the ASEAN Community, particularly in the third pillar or the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.
The ASEAN Charter made the ASEAN Foundation to be accountable to the Secretary-General of ASEAN. So, I am looking forward to collaborating more closely with the ASEAN Foundation, particularly with its incoming Executive Director, Dr. Uriarte, in bringing ASEAN to the peoples of ASEAN.
Since I will not be able to attend the ASEAN Foundation 10th Anniversary event tomorrow, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Khun Apichai for his contribution to the ASEAN Foundation and to ASEAN during the past three years of his tenure.
Thank you for your kind attention and for your interest in ASEAN. [ END ] |
