Rizki Marman Saputra completed a 5-week internship with the ASEAN Secretariat's Public Outreach and Civil Society section in Jakarta, Indonesia. He assisted with updating ASEAN's website, editing photos, participating in forums, documenting events, and escorting ambassadors. The internship provided valuable experience for Rizki's studies in international relations and first-hand experience working with an international organization. He believes his contributions helped achieve the section's objectives and gaining this experience will benefit his future career.

1. ASEAN Secretariat Internship Report
Organization/Department : ASEAN Secretariat/Public Outreach & Civil Society
Location City/Town: Jakarta, Indonesia
Type of Job : Internship
Durations: 5 Weeks/Full Time
Intern’s Name: Rizki Marman Saputra
Name of Supervisor : Mr. Diar
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to explain what I did and learned during 5 weeks internship period
with The ASEAN Secretariat Public Outreach and Civil Society in the section of Basic on Public
Service. This report is written as a requirement for the fulfillment of internship report to be
submitted to the Human Resource Department.
What is ASEAN?
ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an organization that was founded
on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand. Its original charter counted five member-countries:
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Since then, five other nations
have joined: Brunei in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Myanmar (Burma) and Laos in 1997, and
Cambodia in 1999. The ASEAN was set up to advance mutual interests in the region, including
the acceleration of economic growth, social and cultural progress, and regional peace and
stability. In line with those goals, the organization's leaders set up three "pillars" of governance
in 2003: ASEAN Security, ASEAN Economic Community, and ASEAN Socio-cultural
Community. At present, the group's foremost economic concern is to make the region a
competitive force on the global stage. It proposes to do this by launching the region as a single
market production base, resulting in the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). The AFTA ensures
that tariff and non-tariff barriers among member countries are eliminated, hopefully resulting in
greater economic productivity.
It’s great to be here as an intern employee and postgraduate student majoring in International
Relations with the concentration in security studies at University of Indonesia. Before pursuing
this postgraduate degree, I have completed Bachelor Degree in Humanities at University of

2. ASEAN Secretariat Internship Report
Indonesia. Joining ASEAN Secretariat is relevant to my study in my third semester as I am
currently taking a course on ASEAN. From what I have acquired from the course, ASEAN is an
institution in Southeast Asia with ten members Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar,
Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. I attempt to obtain the
correlation between what I have acquired in class through the theories with the actual practice at
the ASEAN Secretariat.
The ASEAN Secretariat’s basic function is to provide for greater efficiency in the coordination
of ASEAN organs and for more effective implementation of ASEAN projects and activities. The
ASEAN Secretariat’s vision is that by 2015, it will be the nerve centre of a strong and confident
ASEAN Community that is globally respected for acting in full compliance with its Charter and
in the best interest of its people. The ASEAN Secretariat’s mission is to initiate, facilitate and
coordinate ASEAN stakeholder collaboration in realizing the purposes and principles of ASEAN
as reflected in the ASEAN Charter.
As a Master ‘s student in International Relations I am glad to get an opportunity for internship in
ASEAN Secretariat and work as real employee in ASEAN Secretariat. Reasons to participate in
this short internship are on the basis of self-development and personal interest. To broaden
knowledge and extend network are the main motivations to participate in the program. This
opportunity can be obtained from the program which is also the lifetime experience I would like
to seek. The experience I have obtained from this program is envisaged to be beneficial from
myself and my surroundings. I worked for the division of Public Outreach and Civil Society.
From this division I obtained many knowledge and experiences. During my internship program,
POCS gave me a chance and responsibility to take care of several job desks.
Public Outreach and Civil Society Section
ASEAN Secretariat Public Outreach and Civil Society section’s mission is to ensure that
ASEAN citizens are able to obtain information through easy access from press release, news, and
media.
Duties and Responsibilities under the Supervision of the Chief, POCS:

3. ASEAN Secretariat Internship Report
1. To update ASEAN’s Web Site as the Resources Publications using a specific software
named Joomla
2. To edit Photos of ASEAN Events with Adobe Photoshop CS 6 and Microsoft Office
Picture Manager
3. To participate as an observer in the ASEAN-EU Economic Policy Forum 2013
4. To be responsible of the documentation of some events in ASEAN Secretariat
5. To organize photos and data of a series of events starting from ASEAN’s establishment
in 1967 until present
6. To escort Ambassadors and VIP Guests at the Philippines Cultural Function, The Best of
ASEAN Performing Arts IX Philippinescape Showing the Beauty of the Philippines
through Dance and Music on April 19th, 2013 at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta
Comments on Assignments:
Public Outreach and Civil Society working environment is friendly. The colleagues are fully
supportive and generous. I worked under the supervision of Mr. Diar but at the same time I
worked closely with other staffs in POCS depending on which activity I was assigned. They
were all reachable and very helpful by providing necessary information and guidance on
different tasks and giving feedback on my work.
There were challenges sometimes especially the way ASEAN Secretariat does its business such
as office procedures. However I felt most privileged to associate and work with such important
and highly reputable organization as ASEAN.
I enjoyed working with the POCS team. Surprisingly, most times I was not referred as an intern
but as POCS staff especially at Partners’ meeting that I represented ASEAN Public Outreach and
Civil Society Section. This gave me a lot self-confidence and exposure.

4. ASEAN Secretariat Internship Report
Impact of my work:
I believe my contribution had a lot of positive impact towards achieving the overall objectives of
the ASEAN Public Outreach and Civil Society Section and other related sections. For example
as a student who is studying International Relations, it is important to get into the field and actual
practice.
I am very glad to have completed my internship at ASEAN Secretariat (Jakarta); it has given me
a firsthand experience with the International Organization. The way they transact their operations
which turned out to be quite diverse from what I had on my mind, especially the working
environment, which I think will be a valuable asset for my future work life.