Organizer: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
Type/Location: Hybrid / Singapore
Description:
Small states can and have played an outsized role in shaping ASEAN’s trajectory, often serving as the organisation’s stabilising anchors during moments of regional uncertainty. Despite differing levels of resources, capacity and political orientation, countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Singapore have repeatedly demonstrated that effective leadership in ASEAN lies not in size, but in strategic foresight, diplomatic agility, and the ability to forge consensus. Cambodia’s chairmanship in 2022 illustrates how small states can refine their leadership approaches over time, balancing domestic priorities with regional expectations, upholding the principles of international law and exercising diplomatic agility amid competing major-power pressures. Laos’ chairmanships in 2016 and 2024 likewise underscored the importance of quiet diplomacy and coalition-building in managing regional flashpoints —from maritime tensions and Mekong governance to the ongoing humanitarian and political crisis in Myanmar. Singapore, as a founding member and consistent advocate of rules-based multilateralism, has provided institutional continuity and strategic foresight, including through its 2018 chairmanship and preparations for its next term in 2027. As ASEAN navigates an increasingly contested global strategic landscape, its small-state members continue to play vital roles in preserving the organisation’s credibility, unity and relevance. In a region shaped by overlapping crises such as the situation in Myanmar, conflict between member states, and tensions in the South China Sea, the experiences of these small chairs demonstrate that leadership within ASEAN depends less on power and more on persuasion, creativity and trust-building. This seminar will explore how small states have “led from the middle” to steer ASEAN through uncertainty and what lessons these experiences hold for future chairs, including Timor-Leste, in keeping ASEAN cohesive, credible and responsive to emerging challenges.
About the Speakers:
Ambassador Pou Sothirak is a retired academic and currently serves as Distinguished Senior Advisor to the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies (CCRS) since December 2023. He was former Executive Director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (2013-2023), and Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia since February 2014. He was appointed as Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia (Sep 2013 – Jan 2014). He was Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore (2009-2012). He also served as Cambodian Ambassador to Japan (2005-2008). He had been elected Cambodian Member of Parliaments twice during the national general election in 1993 and 2003, and appointed as Minister of Industry Mines and Energy of the Royal Government of Cambodia from 1993 to 1998. He obtained a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Oregon State University, USA and had worked with the Boeing Company (1981-1986). He served as humanitarian refugee volunteer at one of the refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodia border from 1986 to 1992. Ambassador Pou Sothirak has written extensively on various challenging issues confronting the development of Cambodia and other issues related to peace and security of the region of Southeast Asia and beyond.
H.E. Sisangkhom Sisaketh is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to ASEAN since April 2025. Prior to his current position, he was Deputy Director-General of ASEAN Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2022-2025); and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva and DCM of the Embassy of the Lao PDR to the Swiss Confederation (2018-2022). Ambassador Sisaketh began his career as Desk Officer of the Research and Studies Division at the Cabinet Office Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of the Lao PDR (1999-2000); Secretary to Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office of MoFA of the Lao PDR (2000-2002); Secretary to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (2002-2003); and Desk Officer at the ASEAN Political-Security Division of MoFA of the Lao PDR (2006-2008). Between 2008-2009, he was tasked as an Attachment Officer at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. He served as Desk Officer (2009-2011), and later became the Deputy Director (2011-2012) for ASEAN External Relations Division, ASEAN Department, MoFA of the Lao PDR. Following to this, he was posted as First Secretary/Deputy Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to ASEAN (2012-2015) in Jakarta, Indonesia. He then became Director of the ASEAN Political-Security Community Division (2015-2017), and was appointed as Deputy Director-General in 2018 at the ASEAN Department, MoFA of the Lao PDR. Ambassador Sisaketh holds a Master of Arts in International Relations and Political Science from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, and a Bachelor’s degree in General English from Dongdok National University of Laos.
Dr. Joel Ng is Senior Fellow and Head of the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. His research focuses on regionalism, integration, security, and intervention norms, focusing on ASEAN and its dialogue partners as well as the African Union. He began his career in international affairs working in Uganda on peace, conflict, and refugee issues. He has also worked in the private sector in Singapore in public and investor relations. He is presently in the Singapore committee for the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP). Dr Ng is the author of Contesting Sovereignty: Power and Practice in Africa and Southeast Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2021). He has published widely in venues such as International Affairs, Project Syndicate, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has a DPhil from the University of Oxford, where he was an Oxford-Swire and Tan Kah Kee scholar, and also holds a MA (Distinction) from the University of Sussex, and a BA (Hons) from the University of East Anglia.
Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute and at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. During his 25 years international career, Dr Anoulak served at the United Nations in New York and the Mekong River Commission, including as Chief Executive Officer from 2022-2025. With a BA from the Australian National University and PhD from the City University of New York, he is co-author of River Basin Organisations in Water Diplomacy and Small Countries, Big Diplomacy: Laos in the UN, ASEAN and MRC. His recent article (co-authored with Joanne Lin) is “What’s Wrong with ASEAN and How to Fix It” (ASEAN Bulletin No. 6, May 2025).
Registration:
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