Questions remained as to whether the rules would change how member countries conducted themselves, with critics saying the terms set forth in the charter were only a rehash of those already contained in previous documents.

Asean members are said to have only honoured a third of such agreements.

But the mood at yesterday's event remained upbeat, as Asean leaders cheered the charter as an important step forward in the regional grouping's 41-year lifespan.

'We believe that the charter gives us legal impetus, and if you don't rely on legal impetus, what do you have? So if we had no mechanism to settle a dispute, we have it now,' Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said.

'We are not going to make a great leap forward on some difficult issues we have, but we have to begin somewhere,' Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said.

The charter was signed last November, with countries given a year to push it through their legislatures. Singapore was the first to do so, with Thailand the last.

In the past two years, Asean has come under pressure to have a more formal dispute-settlement mechanism it can draw upon, when its member nations undergo internal strife.

For instance, the international community pushed for it to get involved in the crisis that ensued when Myanmar's junta launched a bloody crackdown against street protesters in September last year.

But, hamstrung by the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of a member state, the grouping chose not to get involved, failing also to persuade Myanmar to introduce democratic reforms and to release political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi.

'It is part of the Asean character and history. Asean wants to protect the regional interest, while domestic issues are to be left alone,' Ms Dwi Ardhanariswari, a researcher at Centre for Global Civil Society Studies & the National Democratic Institute in Jakarta, told The Straits Times. 'From the Western world's point of view, this may be negative.'

Dr Yeo Lay Hwee, senior research fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, told The Straits Times: 'There is indeed some cynicism about the charter because it is seen as being too 'watered down' and not forward-looking enough.

'It thus misses the opportunity to send a strong signal of Asean's desire to transform itself into a more rules-based organisation with mechanisms and tools that will enable it to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.'

Still, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo sees the charter as a sign that Asean is making progress slowly, but surely.

He said it was a step towards 'creating better conditions for peace and economic development... as we find a more institutionalised method of settling disputes among ourselves'.

wahyudis@sph.com.sg

An important step forward

Charter's main declarations