INDONESIAN PRESIDENT WANTS CLOSER LINKS WITHIN ASEAN.

JAKARTA, July 1 Asia Pulse - President Megawati Soekarnoputri called on ASEAN member countries to cultivate a "we feeling" among themselves, so that they could become a peaceful, stable and prosperous community that was also capable of helping to settle disputes among countries in and outside the region.

"We should make it a point to develop a 'we feeling' that is so robust that we can manage to resolve our disputes peacefully and amicably no matter how sensitive the issues may be," Megawati said in her address to open the 37th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) at the State Palace here Wednesday.

The opening ceremony was attended by the foreign ministers of all the ASEAN member countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Megawati said ASEAN member countries could be strong only if they became a community in various senses, namely an ASEAN Security Community (ASC), an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and an Asean Social and Cultural Community (ASCC).

With a strongly developed "we feeling" the present generation of ASEAN would be able to give future generations a mature South East Asia Community that was free from disputes or capable of managing disputes wisely.

"And so the ASEAN Security Community will be instrumental in the formation of a mature regional order," she said.

The concept of ASC itself was initiated and contained in the Bali Concord II ...