The Kingdom of Thailand has lost one of its famous sons, Dr Thanat Khoman, former Foreign Minister and, until just recently, the last surviving founding father of Asean.
Dr Thanat died last week at 101.
Many may remember Dr Thanat as being the visionary who proposed and subsequently launched Asean, the regional organisation that brings so many benefits to Southeast Asia today and holds such promises for the future.
Back in 1967, through the informal talks in Laem Taen and then the formal meetings in Bangkok, Dr Thanat gradually brought the five original members of Asean together to establish this regional organisation.
The people-centred Asean Community that the 10 Southeast Asian countries launched last year was the culmination of a generation's efforts of regional cooperation, which began with the five original members signing the Bangkok Declaration more than forty years ago.
Many things that we take for granted today in our region – overall peace and stability, greater economic integration and connectivity, respect for the diverse socio-cultural heritage of the peoples of the region, and close partnerships with and recognition from the world's major powers – was built on the foundation of Dr Thanat's enduring legacy.
Perhaps an older generation of Southeast Asians would still recall that the establishment of Asean, during the height of the Cold War in our region, was one of the key factors that paved the way for the reduction of conflict and confrontation amongst fellow Southeast Asian countries.
Asean provided the stable environmental conditions that enabled member states to focus their attention on economic development and modernisation.
But what was perhaps even more significant in the long-run for our region, and perhaps for the world, was that Asean embodied the idea, as well as the ideal, of a regional order. It was a regional order to be developed by Southeast Asians for Southeast Asians, a form of Pax Asean. Indeed, since 1969, Dr Thanat was already thinking of a broader Pax Asiana as elaborated in his speech in Hawaii.
Now this vision of a regional order centred on Asean may have seemed far-fetched at the time, with the region being bitterly divided ideologically and with foreign influence at its peak.
Nevertheless, against all odds, the seed planted by Dr Thanat and the other founding fathers of Asean survived and became the platform for the eventual expansion of Asean to include the current 10 countries.
Within a generation, former foes became friends, formerly distant neighbours became close partners, and former battlefields became thriving market places for goods, services and ideas.
The region that was once one of the hottest theatres of the Cold War became a key part in the Asia-Pacific economic success story, thanks to the order and stability that Asean provided.
So the significance of Asean and the contribution of Dr Thanat to Asean cannot be under-estimated.
Its influences and impact continue to the present. Indeed, it was in the Bangkok Declaration that the concept of a "prosperous and peaceful community of South East Asian Nations" was first proposed, albeit community with a lower-case "c".
Five giants. The foreign ministers who united to form Asean in 1967, from left: Narcio Ramos of the Philippines, Adam Malik of Indonesia, Dr Thanat, Abdul Razak of Malaysia and S Rajaratnam of Singapore.
Today, the Asean Community is one of the brighter spots in an Asia-Pacific region marked by economic dynamism coexisting paradoxically with some rising tensions.
The post-2015 Vision of this Community places people at the centre of Asean and seeks to ensure that no one is left behind and everyone has a voice.
The Asean single market and production base is already one of the world's largest economies and has the potential to generate even more prosperity, once all commitments to the Asean Economic Community are met.
A better-coordinated Asean has already provided better safeguards to its peoples from a vast array of challenges, from transnational crime to pandemics to natural disasters. But more needs to be done including the development of a region-wide arrangement on border management.
And Asean has been recognised by the major powers as a key player in the Asia-Pacific region, with whom a closer engagement is sought. With seven Strategic Partners, three Dialogue Partners and two Sectoral Dialogue Partners, together with a regional architecture comprising the East Asia Summit (EAS), the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) and the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) amongst others, Asean has provided a useful platform for countries outside the region to work with us for greater regional stability and growth.
All these achievements came from very humble beginnings in 1967. But then again, every great journey begins with one small step.
In bidding farewell to Dr Thanat, we pay tribute to his momentous contributions to the Asean vision of so many years ago. To honour his legacy, perhaps it is for this generation of Southeast Asians to renew the commitment to continue working together to develop an even more dynamic and resilient Asean Community.