mu$ic to the ears...

The gathering of leaders from 10 Asean countries, three more partners in Asean+3, then expanded by another three for inaugural East Asia Summit to be hosted by Pak Lah, Kuala Lumpur is suitably decked up like a bridegrom for a mass wedding. We hear mu$ic everywhere...

A potential market -- comparable with the European Union -- of 530 million people from Asean alone, to act an one economic entity to face up to the mighty challenges posed by economic powerhouses China and India, two countries between them accounting for one-third of the world's population!
The Asean nations must be applauded to welcome Australia into the "Asian" fold, after long years of to-and-from courtships and disengagements, because as I said yesterday, POLITICS got in the way.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told a press conference after chairing the Summit meeting that EAS would not replace, nor become an alternative to, the Asean+3.
He said the Asean+3 welcomed the participation of Australia, India and New Zealand in charting the growth of the region.

Desiderata wishes to see indeed a new era of economic cooperation for the expanded EAS, but it would be day-dreaming indeed to believe things would sail on smoothly in the near future. Big brother the United States of America would always be a "factor" lingering in the background interacting and influencing the political inclinations of participants in the EAS, that's the reality. But pragmatism would continue to also become an increasingly important "factor" in any country's decision-maing in the economic world.

An issue worth pondering: Just a simple "thorn in the flesh" -- the "misbehaving" Myanmar -- had bedevilled Asean leaders in trying to bring the newest member into line, but things moved at a snail's pace, beleaguered by the policy of "non-interference" in a member country's "internal affairs", in this case relating to democratic government and human rights abuse. In such scenarios, firm political decisins have to be made in order for the organisation not to be derailed from purusing its primary goals of economic integration and common purpose.


Back to the music:

from NST frontpage, December 13, 2005:

*ASEAN Charter to be drafted to promote
democracy, human rights and good governance.

*COLLABORATE closely in the fight against bird
flu. Japan pledges US$135m aid

*EAST Asia Sumiit to be an annual affair -
to be held in conjunction with the Asean Summit

from NST, page 5:

What Asia's economic powerhouses want

*China needs peace in the region to allow it to focus on
doubling the size of its economy to US$4 TRILLION
(RM15.2trillion) over the next 15 years, Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao said (today).
China's thriving economic growth and rocketing foreign
trade are a boon to Asia, Wen said, in an apparent
response tocritics who fear China will use its growing
clout to assert a dominant political role.

*Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged yesterday
to bring down tariffs to promote trade with Southeast Asia,
and predicted that business with the region would double
to US$30billion (RM114billion) by 2007.


DRAMA INTERLUDE: The Koreans have it!

The Koreans have won many fans in the region a few years back -- across all ethnic, religious and national boundaries -- when its love story Winter Sonata warmed many hearts in the region and made international stars of its two protagonists. The TV serial in fact promoted tourism into Korea better any any tourism agency efforts and fans poured in to visit the actual scenes and locations used for location shooting for the heart-rending series, soon followed mby several more romantic running stories.

Page 5 of the NST runs an interesting stale of the important "diplomatic role" played by Korean soap operas.

"Allure of Korean dramas
Tension eases as leaders divert from pressing issues

KUALA LUMPUR, Mon. -- Korean dramas have a way of easing tension, even betwen politicians of neighbouring nations at odds with each other.

This was the case with the Prime Ministers of China, Japan and Korea this afternoon when the "Korean Wave" saved the day.
It was all quite spontaneous as Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was waitiing in a room while other Asean leaders were signing the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the establishment of the Asean Charter.
In walked South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun, and the conversation turned to Korean dramas or the "Korean Wave", which indicates the popularity of all things Korean in Japan.
Things became more interesting when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao walked in and joined the topic."

Desiderata: Political survival and dollar signs appear on the talk-shop floors at such international meetings of nations' heads,that's the official agenda; but music and drama appear in the tea-rooms and resting lounges, and it's the latter that provides nuggets of human interest and warmth after the mass readers' hearts. We are all very common in our heartstrings after all -- we rejoice in jubilation, we suffer hunger pangs on deprivation of food and other basic needs.