A people-centred and people-empowered Asean remains elusive, not least because politicians still assume they have been mandated to act without consultations with their constituents, said civil society advocates.

The Asean Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Good Governance (AIPCGG) and its two-day 'Colloquium on Good Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights' are cases in point, they said.

AIPCGG was formed following an agreement by members of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus in December 2005 to 'mainstream' good governance as a policy goal for Asean.

It is also serves as a platform for its parliamentarians to engage in Asean-wide issues and to gain long-term and broader support for an Asean community.

Enough calls were made during the colloquium - which was held at Parliament House - for a transformation of the 40-year old bloc into one that is driven by 'the people'.

Among others, former Malaysian deputy premier Musa Hitam noted that attitudes have changed since Asean was formed decades ago with its emphasis on a 'top-down' approach, whereby governments dictated their wishes and visions for the regional grouping.

"Now that the regional organisation's charter has been signed, concerned parties must work to make that document an instrument for people empowerment," said Musa, who is chairperson of the Asean Eminent Persons Group, in his keynote address yesterday.

Criticism had been voiced that the Asean Charter - unveiled on Nov 20 to establish Asean as a legal rule-based entity - imposed a government-centred and pro-business view of regional 'community-building' on Southeast Asian countries.

While the charter speaks of how the governments will interact with each other, it does not say how the governments will interact with the people nor does it institutionalise the role of civil society, said critics.

However, calls such as Musa's were not adequately translated into AIPCGG's Plan of Action for 2008 which the caucus formulated at the conclusion of the colloquium.

Insufficient space

In its plan of action, AIPCGG members yesterday decided they would advocate their respective governments to ratify the Asean Charter "as early as possible".

This, despite vain attempts by civil society representatives during the drafting process yesterday to institutionalise mechanisms to bring about public awareness of and debate on the charter before its ratification by governments.

During the drafting process, civil society leaders called for "the provision of space for socialising the charter in their respective countries in discussion and involvement with the public."

Adding his voice to this, former Indonesian parliamentarian Dr Muhamad AS Hikam said: "I want that (wording) to be put in the plan of action. And I want it to be known that in Indonesia, public hearings have to be held before such things are decided."

This was, however, shot down by other parliamentarians who said such consultations with the public is "assumed" and "need not be made explicit."

One parliamentarian, wondering what all the fuss was about, said: "We ARE the people."

Commenting on this on the sidelines, Jenina Joy Chavez, the senior associate of Bangkok-based research and advocacy group Focus on the Globa South, said: "There's always more space that can be opened up and there's no harm in opening up that space for people to learn and intervene in the process of getting the Asean Charter ratified.

"Even members of parliament will have to realise that while they have been elected by the people, that mandate (to sign the charter into effect) cannot be assumed all the time, especially for something as big as this and which they have been tasked with pushing their governments to sign."

Chavez also noted that some of the parliamentarians had not even seen the charter before the colloquium took place.

"The problem is, you don't just ratify the charter just because your government has already agreed to it previously. It's not just the governments that will be living with the consequences of the charter," she said.

"Without the socialisaton process and without discussing with and hearing from the people on whether or not this is a charter that is acceptable and just assuming that it would be, is problematic. This goes to show the realisation that good governance still has a long way to go in Asean."

Urging a more positive view of the outcome, Param Cumaraswamy said, a member of the Regional Working Group for an Asean Human Rights Mechanism, said the change of mindset among government leaders in relation to civil society is itself laudable.

"There is now more a process of consultation with civil society groups. Governments have taken civil society groups into their confidence, and civil society groups are gradually accepting this accommodation from governments and cooperating, and this is a progressive step," he told A press conference after the event.