Leadership and Youth Bringing Out the Best in People

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Leadership and YouthBringing Out the Best in
People

• Ambassador Ong Keng Yong
• Asia Leadership Centre Eminent Leaders Lecture
  Series
• The University of Cambodia
• 7th April 2009

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Bringing Out the Best in people

• Different individuals and communities would
  require different ways of communication and
  motivation to bring out the best in people. From
  my practical experience, the following are
  helpful
• Qualities needed
• Be knowledgeable
• Know what is ASEAN and how ASEAN is looking to
  promote its regional identity
• Be honest and sincere
• Competent, clean and non-corrupt
• Trustworthy

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Bringing Out the Best in people

• Be open and transparent
• Promote transparency in decision-making processes
• Be a team player
• Build teamwork and partnership
• Be strategic and long-term
• Minor issues from day to day will prevail, but
  must look at the big picture
• Foresight and planning
• Be composed and committed
• Accept the rule of law and foster the growth of
  civil society

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Bringing Out the Best in people

• Be a leader
• Be accountable and honourable
• Skills able leadership
• Provide incentives and rewards
• Understand capacity of individual and systems
• No job is too small or too big
• Leadership by example
• Good mentoring
• Dont be kind for the wrong reason
• A good match-maker
• Overall, what is needed - discipline, diligence
  and dedication

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Looking at the Future of ASEAN

• Leadership is key
• Have elements of good government but still need
  to get out of the idea that just because high
  growth rates have been achieved, significant role
  and influence can be obtained on the
  international stage
• Need more than just high GDP or positive social
  economic indicators
•  

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Looking at the Future of ASEAN

• Good governance and leadership
• Positive elements
• open (transparency in decision-making processes)
• accountable (choice/elections)
• competent, clean and non-corrupt
• accept the rule of law
• rules-based (predictability)
• free to act, decide, speak (civil
  liberties/personal freedom)
• make every citizen feel a stakeholder (
  inclusiveness)
• build teamwork and partnership
• foster growth of civil society
• behave as a responsible global citizen
•  

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Looking at the Future of ASEAN

• Structurally, need for
• institutions - permanency and stability
• rules and regulations - sustainable and
  predictable
• network - communicate, learn, reach out
  (connectivity and mobilisation)
• policy - stability and context
• Should not allow the debate on values to
  overshadow
• other issues we have in dealing with the
  strategic
• concerns of a multipolar world.

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Looking at the Future of ASEAN

• Leadership
• not confined to political leaders
• at all levels
• public sector
• private sector
• people sector
• the younger generation is important
• bind and pull together
• common identity
• common belief
• common purpose
•  

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Looking at the Future of ASEAN

• The paradox of globalization is that it limits
  the role of governments and yet makes good
  governance more important than ever.
• Good governance is not just about opening up the
  economy and freeing up the dead hand of
  bureaucracy.
• It is also about creating the conditions for
  sustained development and actively pursuing
  policies to make life better for all segments of
  the population.
•  

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ASEAN

• The ASEAN Way is
• characterized by
• consensus-based decision-making,
• strict principles of non-intervention,
• the sanctity of state sovereignty,
• has been both criticized and praised by scholars
  and experts
• helps to avoid and control conflicts
• reflects a common cultural approach to
  international security management as embedded in
  the minds of ASEAN policy makers
• ASEAN's ambitious plan to create an ASEAN
  Economic Community by 2015

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Importance of the ASEAN Charter

• Help reposition ASEAN for 21st century
• Framework document to make grouping a more
  rules-based organization, accountable and
  transparent
• Give ASEAN a formal legal status with a legal
  personality
• Commits members to enhance good governance and
  the rule of law, protect human rights, and work
  towards a single market and production base
• Strengthen ASEAN s credibility and commitment to
  ASEAN
• Integrate subregions like Mekong, BIMP-EAGA into
  mainstream

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Human Rights

• Globalisation
• Promote economic growth, but much of the growth
  is unbalanced and unequal
• Rights consciousness allows us to look at
  different perspectives more clearly
• Blurring of boundaries
• Need to find an appropriate mixture of
  individualism with continued respect for
  authority
• communities no longer isolated
• communal approach changing
• result of influence from international values
• Identity issue
• Groups now assertive in their claims to political
  and economic rights

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Human Rights

• Tension between economic development, rapid
  growth and state of governance
• Key argument - Assumption that economic/social
  rights more important than civil/political rights
• Asian perspective vs Western perspective and
  experience
• Asia authoritarian government needed -
  development first
• Successful economic and social development before
  all other issues
• West sense of human rights developed within its
  political and historical context
• Demands that poor, politically unstable
  underdeveloped countries guarantee as broad a
  range of individual freedoms as exists in the
  developed world

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Human Rights

• ASEAN
• Member states share the common understanding of
  the importance of democracy, human rights and
  fundamental freedoms
• ASEAN Charter and its agreements
• Terms Of Reference for Human Rights Body (HRB)
  drafted by High Level Panel (HLP) of
  representatives of the 10 member states
• During ASEAN Summit in Thailand, foreign
  ministers and HLP discussed and exchanged views
  on a wide range of topics

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AHRB

• Part of ongoing regional efforts to help realize
  a people-centred ASEAN Community by 2015
• Objective create a viable mechanism that will
  promote and protect human rights
• Help shape and raise human rights standards in
  ASEAN
• Must be credible and practical effective
• However given diversity among ASEAN Member
  States, must be evolutionary

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Meaning of the Charter to Civil Society

• Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) ? human
  rights issues
• Currently not enough to secure mass
  interest/ensure effective human rights
  protection/safeguard
• Terms Of Reference of proposed ASEAN HRB not
  settled
• Information exchange (Info X) or Action platform
  (AXN)?
• Looking for a strong document oriented towards a
  democratic and just society

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Meaning of the Charter to Civil Society

• First step of agreeing to Charter and HRB ? a
  concrete move forward
• Commitment of countries given ? starting point
• Next stage codify common practices
• Followed by how to enhance quality of life ?
  fight poverty, health, ensure adequate education,
  social justice

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Meaning of the Charter to Civil Society

• Proposal from some academics/scholars
• Move on separate levels to broaden awareness,
  increase education and capacity building for
  human rights promotion and protection
• Process has begun
• Significant step forward
• Implement what has been agreed
• Demonstrate commitment

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Conclusion

• Charter is a manifested outcome of a process
• Aim to update every 5 years
• System in place has to evolve in tandem alongside
  changes in domestic and external environment

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Conclusion

• ASEAN can be effective to the extent Member
  States are able to deliver/are willing to
  subscribe to the Charter/live up to what they
  have agreed to do
• Cooperation and commitment is crucial
• ASEAN Leaders
• Pragmatic view of democracy
• Ensure rule of law
• Striking a balance between the short and long
  term, and between the individual and the
  community

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Conclusion

• ASEAN is key to the survival of its Member States
  in the face of global change rise of China and
  India advance of technology dangers to the
  environment
• Unless all ten countries work collectively and
  integrate economically, progress and survival
  chances of each individual country cannot be
  assured
• Cannot view ASEAN as a good thing to have only
  during good times
• Need to keep it going despite the odds
• Should always keep ASEANs agenda on track
• Youth in ASEAN countries must play their part

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Thank You