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FEATURE : Popular ASEAN secretary-general leads with panache

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand talks to reporters at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila on July 8. PHOTO: AFP

Surin Pitsuwan can quote from both the Koran and English poetry, in the same speech.

The self-professed “cheerleader in chief of ASEAN” at times sounds like a preacher, and his outspoken style may seem at odds with the 41-year-old history ASEAN, which he has led as secretary-general since the start of the year.

ASEAN has long been criticized as little more than a “talking shop” unable to play a meaningful role in the region.

But observers say that if anyone can make ASEAN more effective, it is Surin, 58, a Muslim former Thai foreign minister and academic who hails from his country’s south.

“He’s much more dynamic,” said Carl Thayer, a Southeast Asian specialist at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University.

“He wants to do something. He’s not serving time till retirement,” Thayer said. “I would be more confident that ASEAN would advance under his leadership.”

Surin took over on Jan. 1 for a five-year term with a beefed-up mandate to give the organization a higher international profile from his base in Jakarta.

He has been promoting the ASEAN Charter, a landmark document that gives ASEAN a legal framework, sets out the principles and rules for members, and commits the region’s disparate nations to promote human rights and democracy.

ASEAN admitted only about 30 percent of its agreements and commitments have been implemented.

But under the new charter, the secretary-general is charged with monitoring implementation of the bloc’s pledges, and reporting back to ASEAN’s annual summit. He is also the public face of the grouping.

The 10 ASEAN members signed the charter at the group’s summit last November but each country must ratify it domestically. Surin is optimistic that will be done by year’s end.

A former ASEAN secretary-general, Rodolfo Severino, said Surin’s activist inclination fits with the expanded mandate given to the ASEAN chief under the charter.

“Surin has been very good for the organization,” Severino said.

As a former foreign minister, he brings a stature that those who preceded him did not, Severino said.

“Second, he takes initiatives,” Severino said.

Surin and the charter are a good fit, said Thayer, calling him “the best one to get behind the wheel.”

Surin describes his style as “hands on, accessibility.”

He said ASEAN turned to him because they wanted a secretariat that is proactive and can communicate effectively.

“And to that extent, I think they know that I need a space, I need some flexibility in order to execute the mandate, the responsibility, being added to the secretariat,” he said during an interview at the close of ASEAN meetings earlier this year in Singapore.

ASEAN saw his previous political experience as an asset, Surin said. Since Surin took office, the Jakarta Secretariat has issued a stream of press releases about ASEAN activities and statements, helping to raise the bloc’s profile.
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