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SINGAPORE: Singapore has canceled Asean’s traditional night of
skits and stage acts by ministers at the end of their annual talks,
the regional bloc’s Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said Tuesday.
He said he did not know why the Singaporeans had
decided to pull the plug on what he described as “one of the
highlights” of the sometimes dull annual foreign ministerial
meetings.
“That’s the privilege of the host,” he
said. “It was the decision of the host not to [keep the
tradition], but I agree it was one of the highlights.”
The Asean chief said some of the ministers from
the bloc’s dialogue partners, which include the United States,
Japan and Australia, had taken it “too seriously” in previous
years.
“The point was to relax and bond,” Surin
said.
“I think some of the dialogue partners took
their performances too seriously to the point where they felt
uncomfortable . . . They kept their scripts secret and rehearsed
sometimes in their bathrooms.”
Singaporean officials refused to confirm that
the gala dinner at the presidential palace today would be a strictly
formal event featuring professional entertainment but no ministerial
performances.
They would not comment on their reasons for
canceling the annual behind-closed-doors bonding session, highlights
of which invariably leaked to the media.
Australia’s long-serving ex-Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer was famous for his karaoke, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has performed classical piano and former Japanese
envoy Taro Aso once impersonated Humphrey Bogart.
In Kuala Lumpur two years ago the 10 Asean
ministers joined in chorus to sing the group’s theme tune, a
not-so-immortal number by Malaysia’s then-foreign minister Syed
Hamid Albar.
The United States, Australia and Canada
specialized in reworking Western pop hits to make fun of regional
tensions.
“When you’re not so sweet, I call the
Seventh Fleet. That’s the American way!” former US Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright crooned at her Chinese counterpart one
year, to the tune of Bob Hope’s “Thanks for the Memories.”
Serious matters up for discussion at the talks
here this week include political prisoners in Myanmar, a military
standoff between Thailand and Cambodia, soaring food prices and
North Korea’s nuclear program.
Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-- AFP
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