The 50-page-plus document prepared by elder statesmen and experts from the 10 Asean member states will add teeth to the regional grouping by giving it legal authority to make members honour their obligations and commitments to the organisation in implementing policies and complying with its rules and regulations.

Until now, the functioning of Asean has been based on goodwill and voluntary engagement of its members. Because Asean resolutions and decisions are not legally binding and can therefore be ignored by some rogue members, it is difficult, if not impossible, for the organisation to make progress towards realising its ambitious goals of closer economic integration.

The charter, to be drafted based on the Eminent Persons Group's recommendations, will change that. It will provide for more effective decision-making by allowing voting, subject to rules of procedure to be determined by a council of Asean leaders.

For too long, Asean has been bogged down by its failure to mobilise collective efforts by its members to achieve anything substantial, and is therefore widely seen as ineffective regional bloc. Instead of living up to its lofty ideals and ambitious objectives, Asean members have stuck to the lowest common denominator in standards of behaviour, observation of membership obligations and compliance with rules and regulations.

Continued failure by Asean to overcome this obstacle could undermine its credibility to the point where it would lose relevance in today's fast-changing global environment characterised by intense competition.

In its recommendations, the group also proposed changing the name of the annual meeting of leaders from the Asean Summit to the Asean Council, and that it meets at least twice a year.

If the recommendations are incorporated into the Asean charter to be drawn up in the next 10 months, member states will be required to take seriously their obligations with regard to implementation of and compliance with Asean commitments. Failure to do so would cost members some of their privileges and rights, and possibly punitive action as well.

One of the proposals put forward by the Eminent Persons Group says: "Asean should have the power to take measures of redress in cases of serious breach of Asean's objectives, major principles, and commitments to important agreements. Failure to comply with decisions of the dispute settlement mechanisms should be referred to the Asean Council. Such measures may include suspension of any of the rights and privileges of membership."

Subject to a decision by the Asean Council, even expulsion cannot be ruled out in extreme cases where a member's obligations and Asean commitments outlined in the charter are flouted routinely.

The role of the Asean secretary-general will be enhanced, complete with supporting professional staff, to handle policy analysis and planning. This is to meet the rising expectations of member states as Asean moves towards greater integration and greater international cooperation, both with other countries in the region and the international community at large.

The first task for a stronger Asean will be deciding how to persuade or compel Burma's repressive military junta to restore democracy in that tortured country, which is the single most important problem that the regional bloc has failed to resolve since the country joined in 1997.

Burma has been a thorn in Asean's side, because it has exposed the regional grouping's impotence and the structural flaws of an organisation that depends strictly on consensus in its decision-making. The festering Burma issue must not be allowed to continue to act as a dead weight that holds back Asean's ideals and progress.