Asean has lost its sense of direction in the aftermath of the 1997 economic crisis and should review what it is doing in the region to find its relevance, said former Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail.

"Asean did well before the [economic] meltdown but now, with democracy movements and leaders being pushed aside, Asean has lost its sense of direction.

"It is up to Asean to deal with such changes and find its relevance," said Razali who is the United Nations Special Envoy to Burma.

He said this in a lecture titled 'From independence to the 21st century: approaches in Malaysia's foreign policy' at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

According to Razali, the ten-member Asean lacked a leader to bring about changes.

"It was hoped that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be comfortable in assuming the role of leader [but] in his interpretation, he is not comfortable as leader of Asean," said Razali who is also a special advisor to the premier.

According to Razali, Indonesia had traditionally been the leader in the regional grouping but it will take "many years of consolidation" before Indonesia can regain that role.

On Malaysia's edgy relationship with Singapore, Razali said the problem can be attributed to the fact that too much emphasis was placed on the Indonesian Archipelagic concept after the republic declared a Confrontation to protest against the formation of Malaysia, incorporating Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak.

Serious miscalculations

"We gave an extension to Indonesia in the South China Sea and we lost a lot of area in 1969. Now, when we want to go from West Malaysia to East Malaysia, we have to pass the inland seas of Indonesia.

"Looking back, I think we made some serious miscalculations," said the veteran diplomat.

However, Razali also said the Confrontation had "opened the eyes" of Malaysia to the importance of finding friends among other nations.

"We looked towards the Non-Aligned Movement although we were not welcomed initially [by members] who said that we were marionettes of the Western world," he related.

Razali said this decision by former prime minister Tun Abdul Razak moved the position of Malaysia from the right to middle ground.

"[Tun Razak] placed Malaysian policy at an equidistant position from both sides (of the Cold War ideological divide) and we became more issue focussed."

Razali also attributed the "proactive diplomacy" observed by the Wisma Putra (foreign affairs ministry) to Mahathir who advocated the approach.

"Diplomats were not only headlining and sloganeering but we backed up what we said with actual work on real issues," he stressed.

Razali added that among the challenges facing Malaysia today is the direction that the country should be headed with imminent change in leadership.

"We have to forge consensus in democracy. We cannot arrogate responsibilities onto one leader," he added.

The lecture was organised by the young professionals' society Promuda.