Transcript of Comments by Press Secretary to PM on President Abdurrahman Wahid's remarks on the 4th ASEAN Informal Summit

COMMENTS BY PRESS SECRETARY TO PM ON PRESIDENT ABDURRAHMAN WAHID'S REMARKS ON THE 4TH ASEAN INFORMAL SUMMIT

PM Goh Chok Tong has read media reports of President Abdurrahman Wahid's recent comments on Singa-pore's role in the 4th ASEAN Informal Summit (AIS). As Chairman of the 4th AIS, PM Goh's responsibility was to sum up ideas and suggestions on which ASEAN leaders had reached a consensus.

2 The Prime Minister's Office wishes to clarify the following:

(1) "No need to follow Singapore's advice to master the English language for information technology." It was Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed of Malaysia, and not PM Goh, who gave this advice. Dr Mahathir explained that without English, ASEAN could not take full advantage of IT. PM Goh and the other leaders agreed with Dr Mahathir on the importance of English in the New Economy.

(2) "Indonesia not mentioned in relation to trade fairs." The leaders had agreed to PM Goh's proposal that ASEAN countries that were less affected by the financial and economic crisis should spearhead or host initiatives to restore ASEAN's credibility and attractiveness to investors. This included trade fairs in which all ASEAN members would be invited to participate. The trade fairs would also be rotated among ASEAN capitals.

(3) "PM Goh never mentioned the Southern part of the ASEAN region." At the AIS, leaders agreed that ASEAN should consolidate itself, in particular, to integrate the newer members of Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos with the rest of ASEAN. Most ASEAN leaders, and also the leaders from China, Japan and Korea, focussed on projects in the Mekong Basin countries. Hence, PM Goh expressly proposed that at the next ASEAN Summit in Brunei, the leaders should discuss how to help the eastern part of ASEAN (the Philippines, Kalimantan, East Malaysia and Brunei) to grow.

(4) "East Timor's and Papua New Guinea's membership of ASEAN." No member made any proposal at the 4th AIS to admit new members. President Abdurrahman Wahid recounted to the AIS his conversation with SM Lee Kuan Yew on the possibility of East Timor's and Papua New Guinea's admission into ASEAN, but did not put it up as a proposal to AIS. Had he done so, ASEAN practice requires a consensus on the admission of new members. It is not a matter that can be decided by one or two countries.

3 As is the practice, the host country will make available transcripts of the various meetings to all ASEAN members when they are ready.

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28 November 2000