Early members of the ASEAN have achieved unparalleled economic success and developed highly stable societies on the basis of sound national leadership. However, for further success and development in these ASEAN nations, it is necessary to nurture and train future leaders who can raise the quality of political, economical, and social systems and encourage flexibility in regard to changes in the surrounding environment. In cooperation with politicians currently in office and intellectuals from ASEAN, Japan, the US and Europe, the project targets selected ASEAN countries where parliamentary democracies have been established, and aims to nurture future leaders in these countries by selecting promising young leaders in political, governmental, economical and academic areas and giving them the opportunity to expand their cultural knowledge and awareness. Both open recruitment and recommendation systems will be applied to the selection of future leaders, and clear selection criteria will be disclosed for transparency during the selection process.

In FY2009, the fourth year of the 5-year project, the following activities will be carried out.

• Liaison Meeting (July 2009, Kuala Lumpur)
  Led by former Deputy President of Malaysia Dr. Anwar Ibrahim, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan (Secretary-General of ASEAN), Mr. Sukhumbhand Paribatra (Governor of Bangkok) and others will handle preparations such as development of training programs, selection and negotiation with lecturers. Twenty-five participants will be screened through open recruitment and by recommendation, taking into consideration work experience, English competency and age of the candidates.
• Workshop
  (1) Selection of participants (September 2009)
  Those selected to participate will read thoroughly the following literature before the workshop takes place: The Asian Renaissance, Anwar Ibrahim; Noli Me Tangere/ Jose Rizal
  (2) Workshop (7 days in December 2009, Manila)
  A workshop consisting of the following programs will be held over seven days, with two lectures per day.
  a) "Asian Renaissance and the Power of Ideas" (Dr. Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia)
  b) "Inventing the ASEAN Mind through Education" (Prof Dr. Edilberto De Jesus, former Minister of Education, Philippines)
  c) "Nation Building and One Southeast Asia" (Jose T. Almonte, former Presidential Security Advisor and Director-General of the National Security Council of the Philippines)
  d) "Peace Building Challenges in ASEAN" (Amina Tilah Rasul Benardo, Director of Philippines National Oil Corporation)
  e) "Creating Leaders for ASEAN" (Prof. Tommy Koh, Ambassador-At-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore)
• Follow-up activities
  In the interests of maintaining the network of past project participants, follow-up activities including dissemination of information through the project website and provision of opportunities for past meeting participants to make use of experience gained at workshops will be conducted.