President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday called for ASEAN unity against the backdrop of increasing rivalry among major powers in the region as Indonesia inaugurated the new building for the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.

The inauguration of the building took place during ASEAN Day, which falls every Aug. 8 to commemorate the establishment of ASEAN by its five founding members — Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines — in 1967.

Jokowi said ASEAN must be able to maintain its relevance as a regional grouping in the face of global challenges.

“In the future, ASEAN will face challenges that are not easy. The tug-of-war between the great powers can certainly be more intense. While domestically, the people of each ASEAN nation will continue to ask questions about the benefits of ASEAN,” Jokowi said.

He highlighted ASEAN’s centrality and its role in maintaining regional stability and peace, especially following the adoption of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific at the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in June. The document outlines ASEAN’s geostrategic concept of the Indo-Pacific region and ASEAN centrality amid the competing global powers, mainly the United States and China.

“One of the keys needed by ASEAN is unity, which will allow ASEAN to continue to play a central role,” Jokowi said. “This outlook is to show ASEAN’s position and attitude in responding to the dynamics of the Indo-Pacific region.”

ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi and ASEAN foreign ministers were among the guests attending Thursday’s inauguration ceremony of the new building, which is expected to help improve the work of the ASEAN Secretariat.

The new ASEAN Secretariat building, located next to the current building in South Jakarta, has two 16-floor towers and cost about Rp 500 billion (US$37.3 million) to build. It features a green building concept with no air conditioner in the lobby and is equipped with 30 meeting rooms. Each ASEAN member country will have its own room.

Jokowi said he had a personal attachment to the development of the new building because seven years ago he, as the then-Jakarta governor, was involved in an early discussion with an ASEAN official about the possibility of using a South Jakarta administration building for the ASEAN Secretariat. The construction project eventually started in 2018, a year after the Jakarta administration granted the Foreign Ministry the 1.3-hectare plot of land on Jl. Trunojoyo in South Jakarta, right next to the old building.

Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, who chairs ASEAN this year, said the establishment of the ASEAN Secretariat in 1976, almost a decade after the bloc was formed, was one of the most important ASEAN legacies.

“This new facility should contribute to enhancing ASEAN’s convening power by attracting even more ASEAN meetings to this secretariat. This would reinforce not only ASEAN centrality but also help foster a sense of ASEAN identity,” Don said.

“I monitored the construction of this building closely and I was well aware that this building was essential for ASEAN in supporting its mission in the future,” Jokowi said.

“This new building reflects the spirit of ASEAN and the new ASEAN. And I hope that in the future most ASEAN activities can be carried out in this building. This will drastically reduce travel costs, which can be used for other more useful activities,” he said.

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