The seven Asean ambassadors at the transfer rites. Right: The crowd cheers a Thai kid. PICTURES: Joey Aguilar


By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter

All the seven ambassadors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Committee in Doha, yesterday witnessed the transfer of the chairmanship of the forum from the Philippines to the Thailand mission during its traditional Family Day event held at the Barzan Olympic Park.

Former chairman Crescente Relacion handed over the chairmanship to Thai Ambassador Panyarak Poolthup after simple  rites which was also witnessed by members of the working group and staff of the seven missions in Qatar.

In his comments, Relacion said the traditional Family Day gathering “is very important because this is one way of developing coordination, spirit of camaraderie and friendship among the different Asean missions in Doha.”

He noted that one of the three pillars of the Asean is that it should be a cohesive socio-economic community and “this is one of the ways, measures which we could achieve that goal,” Relacion said.

Established in December 2011, the Asean Committee in Doha (ACD) is in a way trying to inform the Qatar government its presence, Relacion said. “Slowly we are establishing rapport with them.” Citing the importance of the annual Asean Family Day, Poolthup told Gulf Times that the occasion is the best time for the different embassies to have more interaction with each other.

“This is the best place to get to know each other,” he said.

Saying that the Asean community has good relations with the Qatari government, he mentioned that a gala dinner held recently was attended by top Qatari government officials.

Meanwhile, Vietnam Ambassador Le Hong Phan lauded the ACD saying it has organised many successful activities in 2012 including the annual Family Day. “This Asean Family Day 2013 also aims at further strengthening mutual understanding and solidarity among Asean embassies’ staff and families, promoting the image of Asean countries in Qatar,” he said.

He also praised the working group, composed of vice consuls of different missions, for being active and efficient in organising the event.  

Various games for the ambassadors, the ladies and children were also held at the park. At least four groups (combined) joined the tug-of-war  while children enjoyed themselves playing mini-football and other traditional games.

For the top envoys, Brunei Darussalam Ambassador Nordin Ahmad won the first place in the Golf Putter competition and  Indonesian Ambassador Deddy Saiful Hadi placed second. Malaysian Ambassador Ahmad Jazri Bin Mohamed Johar was placed third. Singaporean Head of Mission and Charge d’ Affaires Syed Noureddin also attended the event and participated in the Golf Putter game.

In the women’s category (for  the wives of  the ambassadors), Endang Ratiningsih Hadi of Indonesia won the first place followed by Sabaria Gulam of Malaysia. Shahrul Bariah Kamaludin of Brunei Darussalam bagged the third place.

Participants, mostly staff of Asean missions and their families, also enjoyed eating authentic Asean food for their lunch.

 

 

BELOW; Families cheer their teams during the tug-of-war event. Right: Endang Ratiningsih Hadi of Indonesia receives her trophy after winning the women’s golf putter competition.