for Indonesia Tatler, October 2005*

Stylish, yet conservative, the bespectacled 51 year-old Secretary-General of ASEAN Ong Keng Yong exudes a charm that is honest as well as disarming. His office is elegantly furnished and tastefully decorated with woodcarvings and paintings from the region. Educated at the University of Singapore and Georgetown University in the USA, Mr. Ong was Singapore’s high commissioner to India and Ambassador to Nepal prior to working for the Prime Minister of Singapore. He assumed the post of Secretary-General, based at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, in January 2003.

Mr. Ong has travelled extensively throughout Indonesia during his stay. In expressing his admiration for the nation’s diversity he says: “The things that strikes me about Indonesia is the density of people, the density of trees, the density of vehicles and activities.  There is a density of things which is prevalent wherever you go in Indonesia,” He lists off some of the areas he has visited describing what makes each distinctive: “The Medan-Lake Toba area is pure, natural, mountain greenery.  The lake itself is fascinating. I find Jogyakarta on the other hand, rather spiritual, while Lombok is rustic and oceanic.  I would say that we get different kinds of sense, sight and sound throughout Indonesia.  I don’t know if I can ever reach a point where I can say that I have seen a sufficient amount of the country.”

Asked if there are any other areas of Indonesia that he has not been that he would like to visit, the Secretary-General reflects and says: “In ASEAN we deal with the environment, especially jungle, forest and wildlife. I think I would enjoy visiting some of the jungle and more remote areas.”  Mr. Ong sees the protection of the environment as one of the ways in which ASEAN works to safeguard the interests of the people.  “I think it is important that we educate our people regarding sustainability,” says Mr. Ong.  Given that so many people in the region are dependent upon the rainforest to make their living, he is not the type to say that exploitation of these natural resources should stop, but rather that it should be pursued responsibly so that there will be enough to provide livelihoods for future generations to come. 

Toward the goals identified in ASEAN Vision 2020, especially ASEAN’s intention to become an integrated market, Mr. Ong cites a number of drivers to enhanced cohesion and common purpose including education, technology and cross-border exchanges of ideas and people. “We need to open up our respective countries for the young people to communicate with one another.  Of course, this is already facilitated in a virtual sense by the Internet, but I think that it is a good thing for young people to have more direct contact” says Mr. Ong.

One key to the continued economic growth of ASEAN member countries and the region as a whole is the way in which ASEAN engages China in the coming years.  Mr. Ong sees both challenges as well as benefits for the future of the relationship.  “The range of affordable consumer products available will reduce the gap between the haves and have-nots,” says Mr. Ong but he elaborates that ASEAN economies will need to “ prepare their respective industries to face the challenge. We will do this not by sticking to the current products or pursuing protectionist policies, but by gearing our resources to new areas and sectors in which ASEAN can compete well.”  

As for the prospect of Chinese investment in the ASEAN region, Mr. Ong says: “You know whenever you sign a contract with the Chinese to do an infrastructure project, they will complete it.  If you can get China to sign an agreement to do a project, be it a power plant, a railway, a bridge or a road, they will undertake to deliver it. And in recent years, the quality of their infrastructure projects is excellent.  The roads and bridges in China’s developed cities and coastal areas are almost perfect. So, I think it is a step in the right direction to attract the Chinese to do more than just the buying and selling of consumer products. To get them to help in infrastructure development in Indonesia as well as other ASEAN member countries will definitely have a positive impact.”  He adds “many Chinese investors are also looking at manufacturing cost-effective components in ASEAN for their companies in China.  This will create more jobs for our people”.

ASEAN recently signed its first MoU on cultural cooperation with the emerging superpower to promote exchanges between young people, to realise a better understanding of respective cultures and to preserve cultural heritage. Of the MoU, Mr. Ong says “Overall, for the future, I think ASEAN would need to work intensively with China for business as well as political cooperation.  Therefore, the more we learn about each other the better it will be.  And the visits by the Chinese President and Chinese Premier to different parts of ASEAN over the past three years have been very good for our relations. I personally think that they bring about a very friendly and non-aggressive atmosphere for strengthening relations.”

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Courtesy of Indonesia Tatler