Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar today called on Asean member-countries to unite behind his Thai counterpart Surakiart Sathirathai, who is bidding to become the second Asian secretary-general of the United Nations.

Syed Hamid said the government has endorsed Surakiart and that it would not put up a Malaysian candidate.

"We have no objection to the Thai candidate," he said at a press conference held at the Parliament lobby.

Syed Hamid is scheduled to leave for New York tonight to attend the 59th UN General Assembly session, which began last Tuesday.

He said Malaysia would canvass for Surakiart ( photo ) in its capacity as the chair of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Conference.

"It is important for Asean (countries) to unite, we don't want to miss the opportunity for an Asean candidate to be elected as the next UN secretary-general," he said.

He also said all Asean member-countries have endorsed Surakiart's candidacy, except for Singapore which has yet to make its stand known.

Incumbent UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's second term will end in December 2006. The UN General Assembly appoints a UN secretary-general on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council for a five-year term.

Burma's U Thant is the only Asian who has held the post since the UN was established. He served from 1961-1971.

Recce team

On another matter, Syed Hamid said the government is still "looking for a suitable date" for a Malaysian recce (reconnaissance) team to be sent to Jordan, from where they will monitor the situation in Iraq.

"The date has not be fixed, and I don't think it should be disclosed. Let them make their own assessment, we don't want to send them to a war zone," he said.

Last Monday, Parliament was told that the recce team would be in Jordan from Sept 25-29 to ascertain if the government could implement its decision to send Malaysian medical volunteers to Iraq.

The team will be stationed in Jordan to monitor the security situation in Iraq, in addition to making attempts to meet with Iraqi officials to obtain news of the latest developments.

Syed Hamid said the government was still keen in sending a recce team, but that it "will be careful in making the final decision".

"The security situation there is not getting better, but worse," he noted.