20 February 2009
Sec-gen issues open invitation to participate in Asean community building
Surin Pitsuwan, the Secretary-general of Asean, hosted a pan-Asean pre-summit briefing for a number of civil society groups. Representing the Singapore human rights group Maruah, I registered our concerns for human rights and other issues. Here is a report of the session.
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I think he is setting-up the precedence for the citizens of Asean country to view Asean beyond just official inter-government interactions. That is, to create a form of Asean "People Power" movement. However, since it's so new, he has to be diplomatic and not step on the toes of the govt officials.
One wonders though if how long it would take for Asean to evolve. Even with rules for membership, EU took 10 years. Personally, I would not wait a decade for the issues you raised on behalf of Singapore to be resolved. Just migrate to a real 1st world country outside of Asean, practical instant solution at a personal level. There may possibly other mobile Asean citizens who do the same.
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