The ASEAN Secretariat


The ASEAN Secretariat

THE FIRST YEAR of the decade of the Eighties was a busy and significant period in the history of the ASEAN Secretariat which is located in Jakarta, Indonesia. With the growing number of ASEAN activities covering a vast range of areas of cooperation, the ASEAN Standing Cornmittee requested the Secretariat to prepare a working paper on the restructuring of ASEAN and the strengthening of the ASEAN Secretariat to enable it to fulfill its role in the expanding scope of regional cooperation.

In addition to its usual function of servicing meetings and conferences, and helping to facilitate coordination and monitoring of ASEAN activities, the ASEAN Secretariat also started a modest publishing program aimed at keeping everyone involved in ASEAN abreast of developments in the Association.

In May 1981, marking a milestone in ASEAN history, the Secretariat moved to its new building, a magnificent eight-storey edifice provided by the Indonesian Government, leaving, with some regret, its modest but comfortable and congenial temporary offices at the Department of Foreign Affairs compound on Jalan Taman Pejambon.

The new ASEAN Secretariat building, located on Jalan Sisingamangaraja, Kebayoran Baru,. was officially inaugurated by H.E. President Soeharto of Indonesia on May 9, 1981 in the presence of the Foreign Ministers of the member countries of ASEAN and the signatories of the Bangkok Declaration of August 8, 1967.

Home Based Staff of the ASEAN Secretariat

On July 1, 1980, H.E. Ambassador Narciso G. Reyes (of the Philippines) assumed the post of Secretary General of the ASEAN Secretariat, succeeding H.E. Datuk Ali Abdullah (of Malaysia), who had completed his two-year term.

At the beginning of the year, a new team of officers, seconded from the member countries, replaced the first generation officers of Home Based Staff who had completed their term of three years.

The present Home Based Staff of the Secretariat consist of the following:
Name (country)			: H.E. Ambassador Narciso
    				G. Reyes (Philippines)
Position			: Secretary General
Date of Assumption		: I July 1980
Name (country)			: Dr. Chng Meng Kng
				(Singapore)
Position			: Director of the Economic
             			Bureau
 Date of Assumption		: 12 October 1980
Name (country) 			: Dr.C.P.E. Luhulima (Indonesia)
Position 			:Director of the Bureau of
				Science and Technology
 Date of Assumption		: 4 May 1980
 Name (country) 		:Mr. Sarawudh Kongsiri
 				(Thailand)
 Position			:Director of the Social and
  				Cultural Affairs
 Date of Assumption		: I July 1980
 Name (country) 		: Mr. Caesar Atienza
 				(Philippines)
 Position			: Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Officer
 Date of Assumption 		: 29 March 1980
 Name (country)			: Mrs. Subijartani Santhoso
 				(Indonesia)
 Position 			: Administrative Officer
 Date of Assumption		: 11 January 1980
 Name (country)			: Mr. Jerry M. Reyes (Philippines)
 Position			: Public Information Officer
 Date of Assumption		: 15 February 1980
Name (country)
Name (country) 			: Mr. Abdul, Wahab Harun
 				(Malaysia)
 Position 			:Assistant to the Secretary General
 Date of Assumption		: 10 October 1979
Finance and Administration

The approved budget of the ASEAN Secretariat for the Financial Year 1980-1981 (June 1, 1 980 to May 31, 1981) amounted to US$ 635,528. Based on equal contribution, each member country's share amounted to US$ 127,105. However, the Secretariat incurred some savings from the previous year's budget amounting to US$ 69,839. This was carried over to the current year, thus reducing the total contribution of member countries to US$ 565,717 which was shared equally.

With the transfer of the ASEAN Secretariat to its new building, an additional budget of US$ 41,140, was approved by the Special Budget Committee Meeting in November 1980, to cover the additional expenses for the three remaining months of the financial year 1980-1981 (March, April and May 1981).

Time Deposit

On January 6, 1981, the ASEAN Secretariat deposited US$ 50,000 for a one-month time deposit at an interest rate of 12.75% per year. The interest earned on February 6, 1980 was US$ 433.25

ASEAN Cultural Fund

Since November 1, 1979, the entire Cultural Fund of five billion yen as contributed by the Japanese Government, and the total interest earned from time deposits amounting to Y 122,060,851 has been managed by two financial institutions in ASEAN countries. These are the Singapore-Japan Merchant Bank Ltd. in Singapore and the Bumiputra Merchant Bankers Berhad in Kuala Lumpur.

During the period November 1979 to February 28, 1981, the total income amounted to US$ 3,141,032.6

Fourth Annual Meeting of the ASEAN Budget Committee

The Meeting, convened in Jakarta May 11-13 1981, was presided by Indonesia, the second year of its chairmanship of the committee. The Chairmanship of the ASEAN Budget Committee rotates in alphabetic order among the five member countries at three-year intervals.

The Meeting considered the annual budget proposal of the ASEAN Secretariat for the financial year 1981/1982, and other financial matters concerning the ASEAN Secretariat.

Official Travel

The Home Based Staff attended eight ASEAN Ministerial Meetings, all the ASEAN Standing Committees and most of the other ASEAN committee meetings, and meetings with dialogue countries during the financial year 1980/1981.

The total number of meetings and seminars attended was 77, and the amount of US$ 51,550.23 was spent for travel fares and per them allowances.

In the previous financial year (1979-1980) 90 travel authorizations were granted, while the travel fares and subsistence reached US$ 69,3000.53.

Meetings held at the ASEAN Secretariat during the financial year 1980/81
  1. September 1980 - Second Joint ASEAN-Japan Experts Meeting on Cooperation in Technology Transfer and Energy.

  2. January 1981 - Consultative Meeting of the Experts Group of the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science and Technology for Development.

  3. February 1981 - Expert Meeting of the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science and Technology for Develoment.

  4. March and April 1981 - Preparatory Meetings of the Committee for the Inauguration Of the ASEAN Secretariat.

  5. May 1981 - Fourth Budget Committee Meeting.

  6. May 1981 - Task Force Meeting on the Strengthening of the ASEAN Secretariat.

  7. May 1981 - Fifth ASEAN Audit Committee Meeting.

  8. May 1981 - Eleventh Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Ministers.

  9. June 1981 - Second Meeting of the Advisory Group of the ASEAN Cultural Fund.

  10. June 1981 - Meeting of Government Representatives on the ASEAN Opinion Multipliers Project.

Based on the scheme of rotation as approved by the Fifth ASEAN Standing Committee Meeting in Singapore (June 1977), members of the Fifth ASEAN Audit Committee Meeting were Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines. The Meeting was chaired by the Philippines.

In the line with Rule 10.2 of the Financial Rules of the ASEAN Secretariat, the Report was submitted to the Chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee.

Public Information

The ASEAN Secretariat's public information activities were streamlined at the start of the year under with the implementation of a new public information programme. This was focussed initially on the issuance of new publications called the ASEAN Newsletter, the ASEAN Documentation Series and the Calendar of ASEAN meeting and activities.

ASEAN Newsletter

This serves as a bulletin of record of ASEAN's growing number of activities and projects. The aim is to provide useful and reliable information on ASEAN activities and projects and to chronicle current developments in the region of interest to ASEAN.

The Newsletter contains factual reports on current activities of both the governmental and non-governmental sectors of ASEAN. It has the following regular sections: news round-up; important official statements; "Dialogue" reports; guidelines, country or staff papers; and a calendar of ASEAN meetings.

The first issue of the Newsletter came out in September 1980. It is produced monthly.

Documentation Series

Inserts of important ASEAN documents are also issued together with the Newsletter The Documentation Series is produced in a uniform format and size, suitable for easy reference and filing.

Circulation

To determine the type and quantity of publications to be disseminated, the Secretariat is compiling a mailing list of readers for its publications according to the following categories:
    a. Senior and junior government officials in ASEAN.

    b. ASEAN officials and participants in ASEAN meetings.

    c. ASEAN diplomatic missions overseas.

    d. Foreign diplomatic missions in ASEAN countries.

    e. Press (foreign and local).

    f. Libraries, schools and higher institutions of learning.

    g. UN and other International Organizations.

    h. Other interested parties.

Distribution of the Newsletter, and Documentation Series and other publications is done through the ASEAN National Secretariats and channeled through the ASEAN Embassies in Jakarta. The Secretariat intends to eventually mail its publications directly to readers.

Feed back

The feedback on these new publications have been encouraging. Since the first issue of the Newsletter and the Documentation Series came out in September 1980, the Secretariat has been receiving letters requesting copies of these publications regularly. Such requests come mostly from ASEAN diplomatic mission overseas, the foreign of diplomatic missions in ASEAN countries, inter- national organizations, educational institutions, and observers in the ASEAN region.

The Newsletter's section on "Dialogue" has especially attracted the cooperation of the embassies of ASEAN's third country partners in Jakarta. The section features developments and progress reports of projects which are being assisted by them and informational support has been extended to the Secretariat regularly.

ASEAN Documentation Center

The ASEAN Documentation Centre, which is under the supervision of the Public Information Officer continues to render information services to ASEAN officials. Its main task is that of collecting all ASEAN reports and documents for safe-keeping, filing, and indexing. As custodian of ASEAN documents, the Centre contains about six hundred volumes of ASEAN reports and about five hundred copies of non-ASEAN materials and books acquired mostly through donations and exchanges.

The Documentation Centre also subscribes to ten daily newspapers and seven weekly news magazines.

A UNDP project to assist the Secretariat's Documentation Centre is still pending details of the project are still being worked out.

Other information activities

Earlier during the year, in observance of the 13th anniversary of ASEAN on August 8, 1980, the Secretariat prepared a number of press article that found print in most of Jakarta's leading English newspapers.

The Secretariat was also actively involved in the preparation for the inauguration of the new ASEAN Secretariat building in Kebayoran Baru. Among the principal tasks it was assigned to do were the coordination of arrangements for press and television coverage and the preparation of a commemorative brochure on ASEAN that was distributed in that occasion.