Singapore - Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo Wednesday said Asean will become a mini-United Nations for Southeast Asia once all ten members ratify the Asean Charter, hopefully by theend of this year.
Speaking at a press conference marking the end of the two-day Asean retreat hosted by Singapore, the chair of the Asean Standing Committee, expressed hope that ten members will ratify the Asean Charter prior to the leaders` summit to be held in Bangkok by the end of this year.
He said each of the ten members will appointed an ambassador to lead their mission to Jakarta, the seat of Asean Secretariat currently headed by former Thai foreign minister, Surin Pitsuwan.
Each of these ambassadors to Jakarta will be the power to make decision on behalf of their respective government, Yeo said.
Yeo said Surin would be looking to hire two more deputies to assist him with the new workload. The Ten Asean leaders signed the charter last November at a summit in Singapore.
The aim is to make the regional grouping a more rules-based organization. Three more countries have ratified the charter, bringing the total number to four. The instrument of ratification from Burma and Laos was handed to Surin on Wednesday during a special ceremony on the sidelines of the retreat.
Singapore was the first country to ratify the charter, followed by Brunei who deposited its instrument of ratification on 15 February. One the charter is ratified, said Yeo.
"All the things we wanted to do we will be able to do," Yeo said. Asean will establish a term of references for a special committee tasked with looking into the idea of setting up Asean human rights body and a mechanism to settle dispute.
But the move towards a rule-based society will not be a smooth sailing as lawmakers in the Philippines said they will not ratify it unless Burma release pro-opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and permit her to take part in a genuine national reconciliation and democratization process.
Burma said it would not permit Suu Kyi to stand for national election on the ground that a provision in 1974 does not permits candidates running for public office be married to foreign citizen. Suu Kyi`s late British husband, Michael Aris passed away in 1999 when she was in house arrest.
Rangoon has said the new charter will lead to a general election in 2010 and replaced the 1988 version that was scrapped when the junta took power.
Yeo said the provision was somewhat "odd in this day and age" but added that it was essentially a decision for the Burmese to decide. He said a number of Asean ministers were concerned with the integrity of he process and that international concerns should be taken into account.
Source: www.nationmultimedia.com (21 Februari 2008)
