at the
2nd Europe and Asia-Pacific Media Dialogue
3-5 September 2007, Bonn, Germany

"Role of media in development and poverty alleviation"

Thank you for inviting me to join this media dialogue.

2. I am not from the media, but in my previous job, I used to deal with the media.  But even now, as Secretary-General of ASEAN, I engage the media almost on a continuing basis.  As a result, I have many friends among you and I am glad to be here.

3. I have been requested to speak on the role of media in development and poverty alleviation. 

4. This is an interesting topic because it presupposes that there is more to development than economics and business.  And I agree.

5. But before I do that, let me share with you some recent developments in ASEAN – an organization of ten Southeast Asian countries with a combined population of more than half a billion and a combined GDP of  a little more than a trillion US dollars.

6. ASEAN is 40 years old this year.  We are in the midst of implementing plans of actions towards establishing the ASEAN Community with three pillars – economic, security, and socio-cultural.

7. These are forward-looking but modest activities aimed at consolidating our economic cooperation, security dialogue, and social interactions, which we believe would make us not only manage our relations better, but shape our common future together. 

8. An important preoccupation of ASEAN today is the drafting of the ASEAN Charter.  Why now?  Because the situation and challenges have changed since our Founding Fathers met in 1967.  Because today’s opportunities are great and compels us to be institutionally capable of taking them.  Because the present generation’s expectations are higher and we should not disappoint them.  Because ASEAN is ready for it.

9. The next ASEAN Summit, to be held in Singapore in November this year, is expected to adopt the ASEAN Charter.  We hope that it will unleash a new ASEAN with greater political will and institutional capacity to face the future.  We hope that it would rally not only our governments, but our people in thinking and acting together as “one ASEAN at the heart of dynamic Asia” to cite our 40th anniversary slogan.  We would need the media’s support in communicating this message of our people.  

10. Indeed, we are part of the broader East Asia and the Asia Pacific.  ASEAN, therefore, has maintained cooperative relations with our neighbors.  Beyond Asia Pacific, we have also played an active role in engaging Europe – either through the 30-year old ASEAN-EU Dialogue relationship or through the larger Asia-Europe Meeting process.  These are valuable mechanisms that also need your support.

11. Let me now turn to my assigned topic.

12. The basic role of the mainstream media in development is to inform, to inquire and to inspire into action.

13. To inform who?  The government and development agencies about the development needs that require their attention and resources; the poor and the disadvantaged about the available opportunities; and the business community about the impact of their operations whether good or bad.

14. Various forms of investigative journalism have grown as an industry by itself.  It has become a major source of news content for media outlets.  This is an important trend as long as they are constructive in their intent and not unduly harsh.  For it is by inquiring into the roots of issues, beyond the headlines and the hype, that the media performs its important role as the true guardian of public interest.   

15. Inspiring into action is a by-product of the above roles of the media.  Communication is effective if it is able to convey the intended message to the intended audience.  But even better if it could move our leaders, officials, businessmen, the civil society, and the general public in the right direction.

16. The pursuit of development requires resolute political will.  This is so because development demands reforms and adjustments.  It involves the politics of resource allocation.  It requires public policy review and change – oftentimes incrementally, but sometimes boldly.

17. Development also sometimes challenges entrenched and vested interests that take advantage and benefit from the status quo rather than change, innovation, and good governance.  It entails structural adjustments that are economically and socially unsettling and could even be painful for the very people who are supposed to benefit from it in the long run.

18. This is why I believe in engaging the public.  It is important that the public gets the right and balance information.  It is imperative that the public is on side.  We must overcome ignorance, indifference and misinformation.  And our most important channel is the mainstream media.

19. Southeast Asia, and the Asia Pacific more widely, have made great strides in economic development and poverty alleviation.  The 2006 joint progress report of ESCAP, UNDP and ADB on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicated that most countries in the Asia Pacific region are on course to achieving the large majority of MDG targets by 2015.

20. However, at the same time, as a group, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the region have among the highest rates of child mortality, maternal mortality and TB prevalence and death in the world.  HIV prevalence in the region continues to rise.  The regional proportion of urban dwellers with access to safe water is even declining. 

21. The Asian region includes five of the world's seven most populous countries, namely China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.  As a result, although the prevalence of economic and social poverty is often lower than in sub-Saharan Africa, these five countries together, and sometimes individually, account for much larger absolute numbers of economically deprived people.

22. Therefore, the challenge is great, but not insurmountable.  In his speech at the UNGA last month where he called for a global partnership to meet the MDGs, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, stated that “today we have the science, technology, medicine and wealth: what we now need is the unity and strength of purpose to employ the ingenuity and resources we have – and to employ them well - to help those who need it.”
 
23. And indeed, we need sustained international and regional collaboration.  We in ASEAN have build bridges of multilateral cooperation precisely to respond to present challenges that confront us all, such as in the fields of promoting peace and security, economic development, and social progress.

24. In this regard, we have the processes of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum, the ASEAN Plus Three, and ASEAN itself.  We have also put in place mechanisms for inter-regional cooperation, such as between Asia and Europe as I have mentioned earlier.  In Nuremberg last March, the Ministers affirmed that EU and ASEAN share fundamental objectives in their wider global agenda, particularly in the promotion of peace and development.

25. I hope that, through the media, the developing world’s agenda and concerns remain in the public eye of the international community, particularly those who are in the position to make a difference.
 
26. There are not many social instruments which are as powerful as the media to tell the truth, enlighten humanity, uncover social ills, and advocate the way forward.  I hope that you will use your flair and influence along these lines.

27. I wish you productive and friendly dialogue. Thank you.