"ASEAN leaders? promotion of the newly enacted ASEAN Charter as an instrument of change rang hollow at the 14th ASEAN summit because of the organization?s failure to effectively deal with the problems created by the Burmese military regime. The failure was glaring. In the weeks before the ASEAN summit, ASEAN Sec-Gen Surin Pitsuwan delivered promising statements and speeches that indicated significant change for the organization. Surin?s speeches were peppered with the terms ?people-centered” and ?people-caring” to describe the ?reinvented” ASEAN ? an ASEAN with a new guiding charter. Surin said that the Charter made ?all issues relevant”, and ?all issues were on the table” and ?nothing could be hidden”. Of all the provisions in the charter, the most widely heralded was the call for the establishment of the ASEAN Human Rights Body (AHRB). The ASEAN Secretariat?s public relations hype over the summit would have been much easier had it not been for the Rohingya boat people. The plight of the Rohingya fleeing Burma because of religious persecution represented the first test of the ASEAN Charter?s promise to make human rights and the rule of law common currency throughout the region. The test fell flat. Surin was undermined by the Terms of Reference for the ASEAN Human Rights Body and by the inability of ASEAN to unite to confront and resolve the Rohingya problem. .ASEAN leaders have not caught up with the rights and entitlements implemented in the Charter. ASEAN?s failure to address the Rohingya issue and other pressing regional problems caused by the SPDC seriously undermines authority and effectiveness of the ASEAN Charter, and ASEAN itself. ASEAN leaders must realize that the current situation threatens the credibility and the integrity of the organization..."