[4] Surin Pitsuwan was elected member of parliament from Nakhon Si Thammarat for the first time in 1986 and became secretary to the Speaker of the House of Representatives the same year.

In addition to his political career, Surin taught at Thammasat University and wrote for two English daily newspapers in Bangkok between 1980 and 1992.

He was confirmed by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers during their 40th annual meeting in Manila in July 2007 and succeeded Ong Keng Yong from Singapore on 1 January 2008.

[7] Surin's tenure at ASEAN saw the rise of the regional organization into an important global player in international affairs.

The change in direction followed Surin's advocacy of a policy of "flexible engagement" towards Myanmar when he was Foreign Minister from 1997 through 2000.

The policy called for increasing interactions with Myanmar leaders when they took steps towards reform, and building people-to-people contacts between nations.

Prior to that, ASEAN had been criticized by some for its policy of "constructive engagement", which detractors said was simply a cover for business persons to ignore government repression.

Acharya said that Surin would be remembered for guiding the grouping through challenging times, including the opening up of Myanmar, the United States entry into the East Asia Summit, and rising tensions over the South China Sea.