KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will take centre stage when it hosts the 26th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, from April 24 to 27 in Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi.
We assumed the ASEAN chairmanship on Jan 1, taking over from Myanmar. Themed 'Our People, Our Community, Our Vision', Malaysia's vision throughout the chairmanship is the creation of a people-centred ASEAN involving all sectors of society in the grouping's activities.
ASEAN Summit is the supreme policy-making body of the 10-member regional grouping of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Before this Malaysia hosted the second summit in 1977 and the 11th summit in 2005 while it also hosted the second ASEAN informal summit in 1997.
According to ASEAN's website, as has been stated in Article 31 of ASEAN Charter, the chairmanship of ASEAN shall rotate annually, based on alphabetical order of English names of member states.
The member state assuming the chairmanship shall chair the ASEAN Summit and related summits, the ASEAN Coordinating Council, the three ASEAN Community Councils, relevant ASEAN sectoral ministerial bodies and senior officials, and the Committee of Permanent Representatives.
For the record, Indonesia became the host of the first ASEAN Summit in 1976 in Bali, where the five original members of ASEAN namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand leaders signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
During the third ASEAN Summit in Manila, the Philippines, the leaders decided to meet every five years.
The leaders again agreed to meet more frequently (every three years) during the fourth ASEAN Summit in Singapore, in 1992.
In 2001 during the summit in Brunei, member countries again decided to meet annually to address urgent issues affecting the region.
Besides the formal summits, member countries decided to gather in the form of informal summits, held in Indonesia (1996), Malaysia (1997), the Philippines (1999) and Singapore, in 2000.
Besides Malaysia which is going to host the ASEAN Summit for the third time, Indonesia too had hosted three times, while Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines and Singapore and Vietnam hosted twice respectively.
Indonesia hosted the ASEAN Summit in 1976, 2003 and 2011 while Thailand in 1995 and 2009. Brunei in 2001 and 2013, Cambodia (2002, 2012), the Philippines (1987, 2007), Singapore (1992 and 2007) and Vietnam in 1998 and 2010.
Laos and Myanmar which joined ASEAN in 1997 became host once with Laos in 2004 and Myanmar in 2014 respectively.
In the past Malaysia has hosted several other major summits and meetings, including the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in 2003, the 10th Organisation of Islamic Conference (now Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) (OIC) also in 2003.
Malaysia also played host to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in October 1989, and the inaugural summit of the Group of Fifteen (G-15) developing nations in June 1990.