The Association of Southeast Asian Nations could rapidly slip into irrelevance if the organization does not rapidly reinvent itself, the group’s secretary-general warned.

That rethinking, according to Surin Pitsuwan, starts with the adoption of a concrete constitution, or charter, that will guide the 40-year-old organization into a new era of political, economic, social and even strategic relevance in the region and in the world.

There was a time, Surin said, when ASEAN’s relevance largely depended on its role as an honest broker across Asia. “Dialogue partners,” such as China and Japan, found ASEAN meetings a congenial place for their own often-difficult bilateral conversations.

But with China, Japan and other big powers talking more directly to each other these days, ASEAN must come up with a fresh role, Surin said. And that, he said, is as a charter-driven regional leader and global player.

“If ASEAN can grow into a viable, strong, effective and dynamic growth sector, the world will have one less region to worry about, and that is enormous,” Surin told participants at a media conference held in January in Bangkok. The Honolulu-based East-West Center sponsored the conference.

“Without a strong center, ASEAN cannot remain the fulcrum of power plays in the region,” Surin said. “It cannot remain in the driver’s seat in political, economic and security affairs. It’s a difficult challenge indeed, but the alternative is irrelevance and marginalization we will be left behind, because things all around us are moving and growing very fast.”

In addition to tending to its own region, Surin said, a revitalized ASEAN can serve as a fulcrum and balance against other global power centers. These include not only traditional powers such as the U.S., Japan and the European Union, but also the rapidly rising economies of India and China.

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand established ASEAN at the height of the Vietnam War in 1967 as a bulwark against Communist aggression. Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei and Burma joined during the 1990s. The junta that rules Burma changed the name to Myanmar several years ago, but the U.S. government refuses to recognize the military government and still calls the country Burma, as do most Burmese.

As a collective entity, ASEAN has the economic and human potential to be a major player on the world stage, Surin said. But that won’t happen automatically, nor will it happen under a loosely configured ASEAN, as it is now, said Surin, who began a three-year term as the group’s secretary-general on Jan. 1.

“As a group of small states, the leaders of ASEAN began thinking: ‘We had better consolidate ourselves and create more attraction among and between ourselves if we wish to remain the core of community-building in this region.’ But to remain in the driver’s seat, ASEAN needs a driver’s license, and that is coming in the form of a charter,” said Surin, a former foreign minister of Thailand.

What a charter a constitution does, he said, is set ASEAN on a concrete path to move beyond “dialogue” and consultation to a true leadership role. The leaders of the 10 member states signed the charter at the group’s summit meeting last November.

It envisions establishing a community based on three legs economics, security and socio-cultural. It must be ratified by each member state to take effect. Surin said he hoped that would happen by the end of the year.

Ann Lavin, vice president of the U.S.-ASEAN Council for Business and Technology, said she is optimistic that the charter will be ratified. “When ASEAN as a group pushes a process like this forward, they do it with enormous confidence,” she said. “It is a great step for ASEAN and is the product of years of hard work. It will certainly accelerate economic integration and the resulting economic growth in the region.”

The charter must be ratified by all 10 members to take effect. Thus far, Singapore, Brunei, Laos and Malaysia have done so. One major obstacle, however, is concern among some member nations, particularly the Philippines, that the current draft does not make a strong enough statement about the region’s commitment to human rights and democracy. This clearly is aimed at Burma and its military government.

In the best of all possible worlds, Surin said, a strong statement on democracy and the rule of law might make sense.

“But let us begin somewhere,” he said. “We cannot start with a perfect document today and hope every member will sign on to it. We can help people understand the importance of human rights, and we should. But we have to start somewhere.”