VIENTIANE: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called on parliamentary institutions of Asean member states to provide a broader platform for their members to express their views.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said Anwar raised the matter during the Asean Leaders' Interface with Representatives of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) yesterday, held in conjunction with the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits.
Johari, who represented the Malaysian Parliament during the closed-door session, said Anwar raised the matter to encourage Asean parliamentarians to share new ideas without restriction to achieve the goal of becoming the world's fourth-largest economic bloc.
"We must accept the fact that challenges outside Asean are mounting, but we should strengthen our position. With a population of 680 million, Asean's potential must be fully utilised," Johari told Malaysian media when met after the session.
Johari, who will assume the AIPA presidency on Oct 18, said the session also discussed the importance of maintaining good relations between ASEAN governments and their respective legislative bodies to ensure that the people's concerns are addressed by the executive level.
In addition, regional security and cooperation were discussed to reinforce Southeast Asia's position as a peaceful and neutral zone to attract more foreign investments.
"We talked about how to keep this region neutral, not siding with any particular power," Johari said, adding that the Myanmar crisis was discussed during the session, emphasising the importance of engaging all parties involved to improve the situation.
On Malaysia's role as the 2025 Asean chair, Johari said the country should strive to leave a legacy to be proud of during its leadership of the bloc.
"We aim to be remembered as a chair that organised one of Asean's finest summits, and we hope Timor-Leste will be accepted as a full Asean member," he said.
Timor-Leste is still awaiting the consensus of Asean member states to be accepted as a full member of the regional bloc.
The 44th and 45th Asean Summits and Related Summits officially opened in the Laotian capital on Wednesday and will run until Friday.
At the closing ceremony of the summits, Laos as the current chair of Asean will symbolically hand over the chairmanship to Malaysia.
Malaysia will officially assume the Asean chair on Jan 1, 2025.