Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
While leaders and politicians may believe they have every reason to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Wednesday, observers and city residents think otherwise.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said that ASEAN has helped to create peace and stability within the Southeast Asian region, enabling member countries to focus on economic development to create prosperity for their people.
‘The result is that the Southeast Asian region has become an economic and political power in the Asia-Pacific region, and even in the world,‘ he said in a statement.
Officials and the diplomatic community in Jakarta celebrated at the ASEAN Secretariat on Jl. Sisingamangaraja in South Jakarta on Wednesday.
ASEAN, founded on Aug. 8, 1967, represents the 500 million people living in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
But some Jakarta residents said they didn‘t see what the fuss was about.
‘Celebrate? What is there to celebrate? I heard on TV that today is ASEAN‘s birthday but it seems so far from my daily life,‘ Idham Hakim, an information technology specialist at a four-star hotel in South Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.
Another Jakarta resident, Yanti Sulistyowati, who works for a foreign company in Central Jakarta, was surprised when she was told ASEAN was celebrating its 40th birthday.
‘Wow it is old enough already. But where has it been all this time? Sorry, I can‘t feel (anything for) it,‘ she said.
Observers have suggested that with many residents of the capital city being unaware of ASEAN‘s activities, it was unlikely that people living in smaller towns or in the country felt effects of the grouping‘s work.
International relations expert at the University of Indonesia Hariyadi Wirawan said ASEAN was not yet ‘down to earth‘ enough to play a role in people‘s welfare.
‘Right now, few people know about ASEAN, probably because only recently the leaders and officials realized that the grouping needed people to be widely accepted. There have been intensive efforts to bring people in on the part of government but much more needs to be done,‘ he said.
Hassan said the main challenge was getting the common people involved in the grouping.
‘An ASEAN which is beneficial and relevant to people‘s daily lives will guarantee the realization of a true ASEAN community,‘ he said.
Meanwhile, ASEAN‘s incoming secretary general, Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand, agreed that the grouping should engage its people more to avoid becoming an elitist club.
‘It is extremely important that we engage the people of ASEAN,‘ Surin, former Thai foreign minister, was quoted as saying by AFP.
‘It should not be just the monopoly or the preserve of the elites, the diplomats, of political leaders, even some journalists and academics doing some research and writing, or even business people,‘ he said.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com (9 Agustus 2007)
