Remembering ASEAN's history and founding fathers

The truth is that ASEAN was founded based on the collective fear among southeast Asian nations that the communist movement was gaining ground in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Thus, after the preparatory talks among leaders from Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia (which used to compose the MAPHILINDO or Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia) as well as Thailand and Singapore, the representatives of the five countries met in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 8, 1967 and signed the ASEAN Declaration, otherwise known as the Bangkok Declaration, which is the organic document that gave birth to this regional organization of non-aligned nations.

The five founding fathers who gave birth to ASEAN were Adam Malik of Indonesia, Narciso Ramos of the Philippines, Abdul Razak of Malaysia, Tharat Khoman of Thailand and S. Rajaratnam of Singapore. Malik, a gifted man from Sumatra, served as foreign minister in the regimes of Sukarno and Suharto. He was elected as Vice President of Indonesia and later as President of the UN General Assembly. Narciso Ramos, a journalist and five-term congressman from Pangasinan, was the father of President FVR and the late senator Letty Ramos Shahani. He served as ambassador to the US and later as foreign secretary under President Marcos from 1966 to 1968.

Razak was the second prime minister of Malaysia, and father of incumbent Prime Minister Najib Razak. Rajaratnam was a journalist, statesman, and former deputy prime minister of Singapore. Khoman was a Thai ambassador to the US, a learned diplomat and politician. These five wise men who served as foreign ministers of their respective countries worked very hard and fought all odds to finally give birth to ASEAN. The five original members of ASEAN were later joined by Brunei Darussalam on January 8, 1984, Vietnam on July 28, 1995, Laos Peoples Democratic Republic and Myanmar on July 23, 1997, and Cambodia, on April 30, 1999. Waiting to be admitted as members and granted an observer status are Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste.

ASEAN objectives as stated in the Bangkok Declaration are to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development, as well as to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law. The ASEAN's fundamental principles are: First, mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and internal identity of all nations; second, freedom from external interference of every state and freedom from subversion and coercion; third, settlement of differences in a peaceful manner; fourth, renunciation of threat and use of force; and fifth, effective cooperation among the member-nations. We hope and pray that the Lord shall continue to bless the ASEAN members with peace and prosperity in all the years to come.