Dr. Surin Pitsuwan

It is with sadness that I learned of the passing of Surin from a heart attack at the age of 68. For those who knew him, he was an outstanding scholar, writer, orator and politician. But more than that, he was the most vocal advocate of a modern ASEAN, currently viewed with skepticism by many who believe it has outlived its usefulness. He was my recent guest as a keynote speaker in the CPR Foundation’s Conference on “ASEAN@50: The Way Forward.”

Surin was born into a Muslim minority family in Southern Thailand. Highly educated with a PhD from Harvard, he also earned a reputation as a parliamentarian, having won eight parliamentary elections in his hometown. In 1992, he was appointed deputy foreign minister. From 1997 to 2001, he was the foreign minister.

I met him for the first time in 1995 during the Contemplacion crisis. He realized that our relations with Singapore were bitterly frosty and he offered to mediate between the two countries. He sincerely felt concerned that the dispute could cause the weakening of ASEAN. At that time, I realized he would be a positive force for ASEAN in the future. I responded and expressed my gratitude, but commented that Philippine-Singapore bilateral relations was merely on “pause, but would resume” soon. The rest is history.

Surin was rated one of the most qualified candidates to succeed Kofi Annan as UN secretary general in 2006. Unfortunately, domestic politics got in the way because he was affiliated with the main Thai opposition party to then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s party. He did not receive official support from the Thai government, which instead decided to endorse the candidacy of its own foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai who ended up coming third. In my personal opinion, Surin would have been a more effective UN secretary-general than the eventual winner. 

But it would have been impossible to repress such a talent, and so eventually he was nominated for ASEAN secretary general in June 2007 and confirmed the following month by the ASEAN foreign ministers. His tenure was marked by ASEAN’s rise as an international global player – a collective middle power offering itself as a platform for regional peace and prosperity. Surin would be remembered for guiding the region through challenging times, including the opening up of Myanmar, the United States entry into the East Asia Summit, and rising tensions over the South China Sea. He was the most vocal in challenging ASEAN’s hallowed principle of “non-interference in internal affairs” which had served as a cover for repression of human rights. It was during his term that ASEAN finally established a Human Rights Commission in 2009, some 15 years after it had declared the desirability of setting such an institution. Administratively, he was responsible for restructuring the duties of the ASEAN Secretariat. He wanted to further empower the secretary general and secretariat, which was not, received well by his former colleagues, the foreign ministers.

Another highlight of his tenure in the secretariat was the Nagris response in Myanmar. For the first time, ASEAN played a direct coordination role in a member country in the wake of a disaster. It created the opening of space for humanitarian organizations to operate in Myanmar at a time when Singapore held the rotational chairmanship. Today, the Rohingya situation, another humanitarian crisis is challenging ASEAN. Next year, Singapore will again assume the chairmanship. But this time, the Myanmar situation is far more challenging. One wonders how Singapore will respond?

In his speech in our Manila conference, he noted the irony of ASEAN being founded on democratic principles by leaders who were themselves not exemplary in upholding such principles. He said ASEAN was able to get away with it during its early years but if it is to achieve its vision as an expression of the collective will of the people of ASEAN, true democracy is required.

He also lamented the erosion of ASEAN’s centrality in the region. In a direct quote from the Nikkei Asian Review mere hours before his heart attack he commented “losing control of its own (ASEAN’s) future,” with member states having different interests and under the influence of external powers such as China.” “Economic assistance and political leverage will (prevent this erosion)” he said, calling on member states to be careful in choosing friends.

“ASEAN’s centrality is weakening on problems that are on the landscape of ASEAN and should be resolved by ourselves. ASEAN must exercise leadership to take region into a better future. If we don’t, others will claim centrality.”

I join his many friends in expressing my deepest sympathy and condolences to his family.