Before we give the right answers to those questions, here is a key fact about the chair of Asean - taken from the Asean portal. The Asean chair rotates among member nations yearly in alphabetical order. It started with Indonesia in 1976.
Alright, now for the answers - who was last year’s chair? Laos. How many of you got that right? Be honest. It’s not a shame if you got it wrong - I did not know that and I am sure unless you are a diplomat or some such you won’t either - the appointment is purely procedural as we shall see in a minute.
For the second question, who is the current chair? You are wrong if you said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The correct answer is Malaysia but I don’t blame you if you said Anwar because with all the song and dance made about it, you would think that Anwar holds the chair in his own capacity. Repeat, the country holds the chair not Anwar.
Functions of the Asean chair
Let’s look at the functions of the chair, Malaysia’s (not Anwar’s role) this year. This is from the Asean portal and I quote in full: