Strengthening Democracy in Southeast Asia
Friday, June 8th, 2007
Speakers
Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, was recently Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and Visiting Fellow, St. Anthonyís College, Oxford University. Previously he was Distinguished Visiting Fellow at SAIS. He began his notable political career in 1982 when he was elected to Malaysiaís parliament, and subsequently held the positions of Minister of Youth, Minister of Education, Minister of Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister. He also founded the Malaysian Youth Movement of Malaysia in 1971 and was its president for 10 years. In 1998 Newsweek International named him Asian of the Year, one of many awards he has received. He was imprisoned in 1998 on trumped up charges and regained his freedom in September 2004 after acquittal by the Malaysian Federal Court. Mr. Anwar was educated at Malay College Kuala Kangsar and the University of Malaya. He has published two books: Menangani Perubahan (Managing Change, 2002) and The Asian Renaissance (1997). He also has written articles for numerous publications, including Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and the Far Eastern Economic Review. He currently resides in Malaysia where he serves as advisor to the People's Justice Party and is a prominent leader in the political opposition.
Jose Luis Gascon is executive director of LIBERTAS (Lawyerís League for Liberty), a Manila-based network of civic-minded legal professionals committed to reforms in the justice sector and the promotion of freedom, equality, and the rule of law in the Philippines. He also lectures in the political science departments of Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University, and is corporate secretary of the International Center for Innovation, Transformation, & Excellence in Governance (INCITEGov). The youngest member of both the 1986 Constitutional Commission and the first Congress following the end of martial law, Mr. Gascon has also served as a peace negotiator and undersecretary of education. He was the recipient of an Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship in 2007, a Stanford University Summer Fellowship on Democracy and Development in 2005, and a Benigno S. Aquino Fellowship for Public Service in 2001. During his fellowship at NED, Mr. Gascon is examining the challenges of Philippine democracy, with particular focus on the strengthening of political institutions. He has BA (Philosophy) and LLB degrees from the University of the Philippines, as well as an LLM (International law) from the University of Cambridge where he was a joint Chevening and Cambridge Overseas Trust scholar.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak is Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies and Assistant Professor of International Political Economy at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. Dr. Thitinan has worked for The Nation newspaper, The BBC World Service, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and Independent Economic Analysis, and has also worked as a consultant. He received his BA from the University of California at Santa Barbara, MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and PhD from the London School of Economics. His recent publications include: ìThe Malay-Muslim Insurgency in Southern Thailandî in Andrew T.H. Tan (ed.), Handbook on Terrorism and Insurgency in Southeast Asia, 2007; ìThaksinís Political Zenith and Nadirî in Southeast Asian Affairs 2006; and ìWorld War Two and Thailand After 60 Years: Legacies and Latent Side-Effectsî in David Koh (ed.), World War Two: Transient and Enduring Legacies for East and Southeast Asia 60 Years On, 2007. His current projects include book and journal chapters on the emerging regional order in East Asia, Thai foreign policy under Thaksin, the violence in southern Thailand, Thailandís elusive democratic consolidation, and Thailandís political crisis of 2006-07. He is working on a book focusing on the connection and continuity between Thailandís economic crisis of 1997 and its political crisis of 2006-07.
Moderator
Catharin Dalpino is Visiting Associate Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she teaches Southeast Asian politics, security and international relations. She is also co-editor of the Georgetown Southeast Asia Survey, an annual review of developments in Southeast Asia and their implication for US policy. Professor Dalpino has also served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (1993-1997); a fellow at the Brookings Institution (1997-2003) and, for ten years, as a career officer of The Asia Foundation. She was the Foundationís representative for Thailand, Laos and Cambodia in the late 1980ís. Prior to joining the Foundation, Professor Dalpino was a policy analyst at the World Bank. She received her M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Dalpino is the author of three books on US-Asian relations and numerous op-eds and articles. She has testified before both the Senate and House of Representatives on Asian issues and US-Asian relations, and is a frequent media commentator.