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ASEAN’s new leader seeks greater returns on aid investments and innovative ways to strengthen less-developed member economies

By David Kruger ( dkruger@adb.org )
External Relations Specialist

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) plays a central role in Asia’s economic progress—but it can do more, says Ong Keng Yong, the new Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).* Mr. Ong, who took office in January, is determined to deepen economic integration among the 10 ASEAN members and help strengthen their competitiveness to remain attractive locations for foreign direct investment.

Mr. Ong says ADB, which works with the ASEAN Secretariat and individual member countries in a wide range of areas, will be an important partner in raising living standards and opportunities in the group’s less-developed members. Both ADB and ASEAN need to be more creative and innovative in shaping new projects and programs.

“ADB should be satisfied and proud that it has actually contributed to a difference” in Asia, says Mr. Ong. “But now, how do we get better value out of each dollar or each action that we put into specific areas? That’s my point.”

Mr. Ong, a Singaporean with a long career in foreign affairs and government, spoke with David Kruger, External Relations Specialist. Excerpts:

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What are your priorities for ASEAN?

The most important thing for me at this moment is really the integration of the various ASEAN member countries economically. The 10 ASEAN member countries have different levels of economic development and in order to advance as an effective regional organization, I will have to try to pursue all these earlier initiatives and schemes designed by the various ministers and ASEAN leaders to bring the lesser-developed ASEAN member countries closer to the more-developed member countries.

At the same time, we have competition from other countries in the region, principally from Northeast Asia, and among that group of countries, China is the one that is attracting most of the investments and other economic interest. So as we move toward closer economic cooperation and integration in ASEAN, we also have to bear in mind our own competitiveness vis-à-vis China, vis-à-vis Korea. And to the other side of Asia, to South Asia, we also have India doing very well economically and attracting a lot of attention.

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Are you satisfied with the current level and style of cooperation among ADB, the ASEAN Secretariat, and individual member countries?

We have been cooperating in a number of areas. Overall, however, I think we should do a bit more. Even if we are cooperating in specific areas, I think we should give more publicity to such cooperation so that people out there in the ASEAN opinion circles know that ADB and the ASEAN Secretariat are actually doing quite a few things. In areas that we have not yet gotten into, maybe we can see how both sides can leverage on each other’s strengths. Specifically, we should be thinking more of doing programs for helping the Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Viet Nam region.

I believe these four ASEAN member countries require more help in developing their individual capabilities, their own economic and organizational infrastructure. They have to be able to handle more trading activities with the rest of the world. They have to be able to plug into the global grid. But to do so requires their population to be assisted to be more able to deal with the world, say, for example, speaking English, getting into the information technology age. At the same time, each of these four countries has its own rural areas that require some basic, hygienic health care programs. In essence, the cooperation between ADB and the ASEAN Secretariat is in the right direction. We can do more.

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One of your priorities will be economic integration. Are initiatives like the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program effective in building regional cooperation?

I think that is a good project. Under the existing cooperation between ADB and the ASEAN Secretariat, the Greater Mekong Subregion Program is definitely a good example. We should be able to do more. The Mekong is such an important, I would say vital, part of life for people in Indochina and over the years so much has been discussed. With this GMS initiative, I think we can realize the potential of the Mekong and I think we need to do more to actually yield some substantial results.

The Mekong has always been there and everybody is always talking about it. But I think the potential of all these cooperative programs and joint efforts is still not fully realized. Perhaps I should be bold enough to say that we have only realized one third to one half of the potential of this Mekong region. As the Mekong area flourishes, I think the Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Viet Nam region should also do well economically and then there will be salutary effects all around. ADB, as what I call a neutral organization, is actually put in a very strong position to champion more of these projects for the Mekong area.

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ADB’s main goal is eradicating poverty. How would you assess ADB’s efforts so far in achieving its goal?

I think poverty reduction or poverty eradication is always a very vital and noble objective. Speaking at the practical level, we might want to do a checklist and say, “Specifically, how do we reduce poverty and eradicate poverty?” ADB has a whole range of expertise and programs, and I think it is contributing in quite important ways to individual countries’ efforts. But at the same time, I feel that there might be more areas that each of these countries can offer to ADB as well as maybe even the ASEAN Secretariat to look at. We might want to continue our efforts.

But at the same time, we want to see how much more creative and innovative we can get. Considering the amount of effort and the amount of resources we have put in since the 1960s, there should be a certain level of satisfaction. In some specific societies in Southeast Asia, you actually can see a definite improvement in the standard of living. But at the same time, there is still a lot of poverty—and why are we not able to arrest some of these trends? It is not a problem of the program or the effectiveness of the organization, whether ADB or ASEAN Secretariat or whomever. The fact of the matter is that the population grows so fast, various social factors continue to dog our programs.

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How can this situation be overcome?

The most critical factor will be the people involved. Maybe we need to go to a lower level. Instead of doing just infrastructure and higher-end activities, some of the basic things may be more relevant to the population at large. And no matter what we do, if we cannot connect the people to a specific economic benefit, our program will not succeed very far. As we do some of these basic poverty alleviation programs, we have to always factor in how we can—as we bring awareness, bring education to the general masses—also show them that they can get a dollar out of their effort to be a bit more conscious of our health and hygienic conditions.

I am not saying all this as a critique of your program or anyone else’s programs. But I think overall we want to get better value out of each dollar that we put in. Maybe we can relook at some of these programs. The fact of the matter is that without ADB, we wouldn’t have reached a certain level of progress. ADB should be satisfied and proud that it has actually contributed to making a difference. But now, how do we get better value out of each dollar or each action that we put into specific areas? That’s my point.

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How important is the development of human resources to further development in ASEAN countries?

At the end of the day, human resources are what we have. We want to see how we can energize these human resources. We can implement certain things. We can show some organizational skills. But at the end of the day, we must not inject too many objectives or new elements because the way to get new ideas accepted would really be for human resources in each country to decide that this is something good for themselves and good for their children.

I think ADB’s focus in many of these projects needs to enhance the inherent capabilities of the human resources in each of these countries. This is a good thing, and I think more can be done in that way. It might not yield immediate results, but ADB is here for perpetuity and ASEAN is here forever also, so we should not go for quick results, short-term gains. Many of your programs, especially in training and developing the human skills, human knowledge, will be good for the future. More can be done.

And while we develop the human resources in the ASEAN region, we should try as much as possible to motivate them to use their own indigenous means and look into their own native culture and how, in the elevating of all these skills, the local conditions can be utilized, the local knowledge can be utilized to yield the results we want. We have to localize as much of our initiatives as possible so that each of these communities in the different ASEAN countries can utilize their own existing means and knowledge to bring about the desired results.

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Looking forward, what would you say is the key role ADB should be playing in ASEAN?

ADB must be part of the landscape, part of the environment. Anyone in ASEAN or anyone in Asia, when you ask, “Hey, do you know ADB?” they should say “Yes.” It’s like the post office down the street corner. By reaching that level of consciousness and identification, you are going to be what the local people call part of the family.

Then if you tell me I should not be throwing rubbish all around the place because it might cause diseases and this and that, I don’t mind listening to you because you are part of the family. But if you come in and have a little air-conditioned marquee with all the wonderful comforts of life brought in from other developed places and then you locate yourself on top of the hill, it will be an awesome sight but it is not the beacon of light that we are looking for.

As the name ADB suggests, it is part of Asia and it is part of the development process. If I am allowed to say so, we can make ADB more and more “there” in the local areas, part of the family. In this way, you might get more desired outcomes because it is not a rich organization coming to town, delivering a specific relief program and then leaving town. That is not the type of image you want.

If you are part of the local landscape, you are the post office down the street at the town center, you will get not just the satisfaction of being received by the people but also the results might be even more durable.

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