Indonesia hosted the 7th ASOSAI Assembly and 6lh International Seminar of ASOSAI in the beautiful city of Jakarta from 6th -10th October 1997. In a brief span of eighteen years of establishment of ASOSAI the Supreme Audit Board of Indonesia has twice shouldered the responsibility of hosting the assembly It was only nine years back in 1988 when the Indonesian city of Bali was geared up to welcome the delegates for the 4th ASOSAI Assembly and 3rd International Seminar. Once again 99delegates from 28 members countries arrived to participate in the 7th ASOSAI Assembly and 6th International Seminar.
Participants of the 7th Assembly and 6th International Seminar - Jakarta
The Opening Ceremony was held at the Merdeka Presidential Palace on Oct. 6th. 1997 with a welcome address by the host Dr. J.B. Sumarlin -Chairman of the Supreme Audit Board Of Indonesia followed by an inaugural address by Mr. V.K. Shunglu Chairman of ASOSAI. The President of Indonesia H.E. Mr. Soeharto who was the chief guest declared the Assembly and Seminar open by striking a traditional Javanese gong. In his congratulatory address H.E. Mr. Soeharto praised the co-operation between SAI's in the Asian Region and hoped for the better and growing co-operation among the member Supreme Audit Institutions.
Dr. Sumarlin in his welcome address appreciated the President's gesture of inaugurating the assembly and stressed the need of close co-operation among member SAIs in the present circumstances and applauded the increase in the family of ASOSAI.
Mr. V.K. Shunglu a chairman of ASOSAI reiterated the need of good governance to meet the needs of stakeholders and cope with the challenges posed by the environment and newly emerging technologies. The significance of the output of the ASOSAI Seminar in the form of a declaration adopted by member SAIs were also highlighted in his speech.
Apart from the opening and closing ceremonies The Programme was divided into two parts i.e. Professional and Social. The Professional programme had three Plenary and three Sub Theme Committee Sessions. The social programmes consisted of several cultural and social functions as well as conducted tours which kept the Delegates ,Observers and those accompanying them busy throughout the five days .During course of the days of professional programme the accompanying persons had a separate programme for their entertainment.
The Theme of the Seminar "The role of SAIs in Promoting Efficient and Effective Public Administration through Performance Auditing", was considered under the following three sub-theme headings:
| Sub Theme I | Performance Auditing , Concepts, Mandates, Methodologies and practices, Reporting and Other Issues |
| Sub Theme II | Performance Audit Report and its Utilisation by the Executive and the Legislature |
| Sub Theme III | The Audit of Social Services |
The principal papers on the sub-themes were contributed by the SAIs of Australia, Pakistan and India. The principal paper writers prepared comparative review papers on their topics incorporating the responses to the principal papers received from other members SAIs. The comparative review papers were discussed earlier at a workshop organised in Tokyo during July 1997, and draft recommendations made for consideration at the Jakarta Seminar. After the sub theme -3 session ,a working group , chaired by a convenor(lndonesia), consisting of representatives from Australia, Pakistan, India and ASOSAI
Secretariat (Japan) met to finalise the draft of the Jakarta Declaration. This Jakarta Declaration on "Guidelines on promoting Efficient Effective Administration through Performance Auditing" was later approved unanimously by the Assembly in the third Plenary Session on October 1O'h 1997.
To promote the excellence in writing, appearing in the ASOSAI Journal it was decided in the 23rd. Governing Board Meeting to institute an award to the best article. The award will be called "ASOSAI Journal Award "and will be presented in each ASOSAI Assembly. The first ASOSAI Journal Award covered the articles published in 1995,1996 and 1997 issues of the Journal. The panel of Judges for the award were SAIs of Sri Lanka, Philippines, India and the Editor of the ASOSAI Journal. The articles were evaluated on a pre decided basis. The First award was presented to Mr. Michel Owens of the Australian National Audit Office for his article entitled :"Audit Technology, a Journey Towards the Year 2000- A New Experience" published in the 1997 edition of the Journal.
Presentation of ASOSAI Journal Award
In first plenary of the Assembly, the Chairmanship of the ASOSAI was formally handed over by India to Indonesia for a period of three years from 1997-2000. The Assembly also elected Japan as the Secretary General for a third three year term The new expanded Governing Board members are Indonesia, Japan, Thailand India, China, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia Philippines and Sri Lanka were elected as Audit Committee members.
Before closing the Assembly Dr. Sumarlin thanked all the participants and wished success to the SAI of Thailand where the next Assembly will be held in the year 2000.