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Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program (A2ELP) 2015 PARTICIPANTS AUSTRALIA Arjuna Dibley Arjuna is a lawyer who specialises in public international law - particularly climate change law - and its application in domestic legal systems. He works across Baker & McKenzie's Global Climate Change practice and its Law for Development Initiative, and has worked in its Sydney, Melbourne and Jakarta offices. In his practice, Arjuna advises governments, multi-lateral organisations and the private sector on matters related to climate change law and legal development. Arjuna is also an Associate of the Melbourne Law School's Centre for Indonesian Law, recognising his particular expertise on the topic. Outside the law, Arjuna is passionate about building the bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia, and to this end he co-founded the Australia- Indonesia Youth Association, which operates to strengthen people-to- people links between young people of both countries. Arjuna has a combined Law and Asian Studies degree from ANU. Natalie Sambhi Natalie is an Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and Managing Editor of ASPI's blog, The Strategist. As an Analyst, she publishes on Indonesian foreign and defence policy and Southeast Asian security. She worked previously at the Department of Defence and University of Canberra. Natalie holds a BA (Asian Studies) from the University of Western Australia and a MA (International Relations) and Master of Diplomacy from the Australian National University. In May 2014, Natalie was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Natalie has been Vice President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs' ACT Branch since September 2013. She also hosts a podcast series on Asia Pacific security for the Center for International Maritime Security. Natalie speaks fluent Indonesian and social Japanese, French and German. In 2010, Natalie founded the blog Security Scholar and tweets under the handle @SecurityScholar. She also enjoys playing the cello.

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Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program (A2ELP) 2015

PARTICIPANTS

AUSTRALIA

Arjuna Dibley

Arjuna is a lawyer who specialises in public international law - particularly climate change law - and its application in domestic legal systems. He works across Baker & McKenzie's Global Climate Change practice and its Law for Development Initiative, and has worked in its Sydney, Melbourne and Jakarta offices. In his practice, Arjuna advises governments, multi-lateral organisations and the private sector on matters related to climate change law and legal development. Arjuna is also an Associate of the Melbourne Law School's Centre for Indonesian Law, recognising his particular expertise on the topic. Outside the law, Arjuna is passionate about building the bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia, and to this end he co-founded the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association, which operates to strengthen people-to-people links between young people of both countries. Arjuna has a combined Law and Asian Studies degree from ANU.

Natalie Sambhi

Natalie is an Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and Managing Editor of ASPI's blog, The Strategist. As an Analyst, she publishes on Indonesian foreign and defence policy and Southeast Asian security. She worked previously at the Department of Defence and University of Canberra. Natalie holds a BA (Asian Studies) from the University of Western Australia and a MA (International Relations) and Master of Diplomacy from the Australian National University. In May 2014, Natalie was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Natalie has been Vice President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs' ACT Branch since September 2013. She also hosts a podcast series on Asia Pacific security for the Center for International Maritime Security. Natalie speaks fluent Indonesian and social Japanese, French and German. In 2010, Natalie founded the blog Security Scholar and tweets under the handle @SecurityScholar. She also enjoys playing the cello.

Geoffrey Matthews

Geoffrey has worked for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade since 2009. He returned to Canberra to work in Policy Planning Branch in late 2012, after completing short-term assignments working at the Australian Embassies in Vientiane and Jakarta. His work in Policy Planning Branch includes wide-ranging research, analysis and policy development on the full spectrum of Australian foreign, trade and development policy challenges. He is the lead editor of DFAT’s internal policy blog, The Big Picture, which he created. Geoffrey is also an active participant in DFAT’s innovation agenda, including co-authoring the first DFAT Innovation Strategy and playing a leading role in the DFAT InnovationXchange’s inaugural Ideas Challenge. He studied a Bachelor of Arts / Asian Studies at the Australian National University, with first class honours majoring in International Relations. This included living and studying in Nanjing, China for a year. He speaks fairly rusty Bahasa Indonesia and Mandarin.

Emma Roberts

Emma is a Law and Asia-Pacific Studies student at the Australian National University and is currently completing an 18-month study, research and internship exchange in Indonesia. Emma was selected as the inaugural Yudhoyono Fellow under the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan, recognizing her accomplishment as the highest-achieving New Colombo Plan scholar in Indonesia. During her time in Indonesia, Emma has studied at the Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law and completed an internship at Rifka Annisa Women’s Crisis Centre as a translator and journalist. She also founded the Yogyakarta Chapter of the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association with Australian and Indonesian colleagues. Emma is currently undertaking field research on Indonesia’s patriarchal culture, violence against women and the law while based at Muhammadiyah University in Malang. She can speak Indonesian and a little bit of Javanese, as well as Finnish.

Elizabeth Wright

Elizabeth works at the Australian High Commission in Malaysia. Before being posted to Malaysia, Elizabeth undertook rotations in the Office of Trade Negotiations, the South East Asia Division and the International Security Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Elizabeth completed a combined degree in Law and Arts and obtained a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. She speaks Malay.

Brunei

Hadi Othman

Hadi started freelancing during his University days designing and building blogs for people in order to pay for his Internet. After graduating, he started a business in system integration for eGovernment systems. As this didn’t quite take-off, he moved from industry to industry ­ from event management to artiste management and even a car after parts modification garage. Along the way, he gathered valuable experience in building startups, developing industry ecosystems as well as community building. He then discovered his passion for working with and helping startups at Asia Inc Forum. Before founding Tru Synergy, a private sector startup hub, Hadi was with Google where he managed 50 communities across the South East Asia Region.

Cambodia

Sothy Khieng

Sothy is currently Head of Education Unit and a Research Fellow at the Cambodian Development Resource Institute (CDRI). He also lectures at the Royal University of Phnom Penh for their Master of Development Studies Program. Sothy has published several papers – his research expertise and interest are in the areas of education, social entrepreneurship, regional integration, development economics and public health. He completed his degree in Biology at the Royal University of Phnom Penh in June 2002, after which he pursued a Master of Arts in International Affairs – Development Studies at Ohio University in June 2008. He recently received a PhD in Organization Sciences from VU University Amsterdam. Sothy is a member of the Cambodia Research Group, Cambodia Economics Association (CEA) and Fulbright Alumni Association of Cambodia (FAAC).

Indonesia

Raja Antoni

Raja Juli Antoni (Toni) is Executive Director at the Center for Public Policy Research, The Indonesian Institute. He completed his undergrade studies at the State Islamic University (UIN) in 2001. He later undertook a M.A. at the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK, via the Chevening Award (2004). Toni received his PhD in 2014 from the School of Political Science & International Studies, University of Queensland, under the sponsorship of AusAid. His thesis was on “Religious Peacebuilders: the Role of Religion in Peacebuilding in Conflict-Torn Society in Southeast Asia” with case studies in Maluku, Indonesia and Mindanao, Southern Philippines. Toni is actively involved in NGO’s and mass based organisations in Indonesia. He was president of Muhammadiyah Student Association (2000-2002) and Secretary of the Department of International Relations of Central Board of Muhammadiyah (2005-2010). He was also the Executive Director of MAARIF Insitute for Culture and Humanity (2005-2009).

Lao PDR

Vatlana Boupha

Vatlana has been a Desk Officer at the External Relations Division, ASEAN Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lao PDR since 2012 – she is responsible for ASEAN-Australia, ASEAN-India, ASEAN-New Zealand, ASEAN-Russia and ASEAN-UN relations from Laos’ perspectives. Her past professional experiences include: Program Analyst, Governance Unit, UNDP Lao PDR (2010–2012); National Program Office for Water for Asian Cities (WAC) Program Lao PDR, United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) (2006 – 2010); and Project Office Administrator, ADB TA 3413-LAO Cluster for Rural Finance Development (2001–2003). Vatlana has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Asian Studies from Deakin Univeristy, Melbourne (1998-2000) and a Master of Arts in International Trade and Economic Cooperation from Kuyng Hee University in Suwon, Republic of Korea (2004 – 2006).

Bouavanh Chanthanongdeth

Bouavanh started her career as a teacher at Chanthaboury Upper Secondary School (2003-2007). She spent the next 4 years with the Department of Planning and Cooperation’s Administration Unit, after which Bouavanh moved on to the Project Management Unit, where her responsibilities were to coordinate with development partners and line departments, and to attend Focal Group meetings under the Education Sector Working Group. After 3 years, she moved to the planning division, where she consolidated the annual education report and action plans from provincial level and line departments to complete the draft Annual Education report and action plan of the Education and Sports sector. Additionally, Bouavanh was a trainer with the Community Initiative Education Development Project II and UNICEF in support of their capacity building in planning and budgeting at district and provincial levels. Bouavanh studied at the Faculty of Education at the National University of Laos with a major in Political Science (2002). She also majored in Management Business at Kavin College (2006) and later graduated from The Korea University Graduate School of International Studies (2012).

Malaysia

Rizmel Nazrin

Rizmel is Special Officer to the Home Minister of Malaysia. He wears

many other hats, as he is also Advisor to the Malaysian Youth Council

President, is a Malaysian Youth Parliamentarian, an UMNO Youth

representative and a Major with the Malaysian Volunteer Core. When

he can, Rizmel enjoys motivational / public speaking. He holds a double

Degree in Economics and Politics from Drake University, Des Moines.

He is also a Perdana Fellow alumni.

Wong See Huat

Kenneth Wong has multifaceted experience in public policy, town planning and heritage conservation. He is currently attached to Penang Institute, a local think tank, as Senior Analyst. His works include the Vivekananda Ashram historical study and review of the Kuala Lumpur Tourism Master Plan. He is involved in the Young Initiative on Foreign Affairs & International Relations (IFAIR), Berlin specifically during the 2nd EU-ASEAN Perspectives Dialogue, break-out group of Climate Change. He will soon develop the WorldCP International Database of Cultural Policies: Malaysia, funded by IFACCA and Asia-Europe Foundation. Prior to this, Kenneth was a town planner for Greater Kemunting Transformation with the National Corridor Implementation Authority, and two master planning projects in Iskandar, Johor. He has served in Centre of Urban Greenery and Ecology, Singapore as Skyrise Greenery Program Manager, looking into green roof design and vertical greening. He has worked closely with Asia Regional Chair, EDAW Limited at the capacity of Executive Research Specialist in developing the Vertical City Development Guide. He is both an Erasmus Mundus scholar for MA Cultural Landscape in Europe and Asian Development Bank-Japan scholar for MSc Urban Planning with The University of Hong Kong. He is fluent in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Malay.

Philippines

Donald Lim

Donald Patrick Lim is the Chief Digital Officer of ABS-CBN Corporation, the Philippines’ largest media network. Prior to his current role, he served as Chief Innovation Officer of McCann Philippines and Managing Director of the digital arm of McCann, MRM Manila, 4As Agency of the Year for Digital Excellence and Campaign Asia Philippine Digital Agency of the Year for the past three years. Donald finished his MBA with distinction from Murdoch University, and then his Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. He currently teaches doctoral, masteral, and undergraduate classes in three universities around Manila. Donald is the founding president of the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines. He was awarded Digital Marketer of the Year by the Asian Confederation of Business in Dubai, and the Digital Leader of the Future during the World Brand Congress in India. He is also a 2015 Young Global Leader conferred by the World Economic Forum.

Singapore

Phua Mei Pin

Phua’s mission is to be of service to her community – she enjoys meeting like-minded people and discovering the best ways to make a meaningful difference. Phua spent a decade in the Government of Singapore Administrative Service, where she had the opportunity to work on public sector reform for the 21st Century; run municipal and social services for over half a million residents; represent Singapore at the United Nations; and, oversee economic developments that brought in $12billion of investments and created 60,000 new jobs. After the public service, she covered politics and other national developments as a Senior Political Correspondent at their top English daily newspaper. Today, she offers strategy and communications advisory services to organisations and people who wish to do good. Outside of work, she serves with initiatives that create opportunities for youth-at-risk, and that support the elderly with dementia and their caregivers. She loves people, literature, learning, and will stand by her friends through anything.

Thailand

Werapong Prapha

Werapong Prapha earned his Master’s degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, U.K. Currently, he is a Gendered Enterprise Development and Private Sector Coordinator at Oxfam Great Britain’s Thailand office. Werapong is professionally trained as a fully qualified Chartered Accountant in New Zealand and has since turned his technical skills and experience to broader impacts in the non-profit world. At Oxfam, Werapong leads the private sector engagement work for the Thai programme in the Food Justice and Gender Justice thematic focuses. He applies private sector and organisational management skills to complex social problems such as reducing inequality, empowering active citizenship and making markets work for the poor and marginalised. His current projects include sustainable fishery and community enterprise incubation in Southern Thailand and women’s economic empowerment for peace building in the conflicted Deep South of Thailand.

Pongkwan Swasdipakdi

Pongkwan is a Lecturer in International Relations at the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University. She teaches theories of international relations, international political economy and U.S. foreign policies. With diverse interest in Southeast Asian affairs, US politics and foreign policies, media, and international political economy, she has worked on the student movements in Thailand, Thailand’s foreign policy towards Myanmar and the online-based political movement in Vietnam. Prior to Thammasat University, Pongkwan was a news reporter and anchor covering international news at Voice TV, Thailand. She received her M.A. in International Relations and Economics with a focus in Southeast Asia studies from Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. Pongkwan speaks English, Thai, Vietnamese and basic Danish. She was also a college-level debater participating in several international competitions.

Saran Sarntisart

Saran is currently a lecturer at the Graduate School of Development Economics, the National Institute of Development administration. In 2013, Saran completed his PhD in Economics from the Australian National University (ANU). He holds the Chartered Islamic Finance Professional (CIFP) and undertook the articleship at Fajr Capital, a sovereign-backed investment firm. Saran is also the working committee of the Wasatiyyah Institute for Peace and Development, the Sheikhul Islam Office of Thailand. He has given talks and written articles on Islamic economics and banking for both private companies and government institutions. Saran’s interest includes Islamic finance and development issues in the Muslim world.

Timor-Leste

Alex Tilman

Alex has worked in many different capacities and for various organisations, both government and non-government. Currently he is working as the Timor-Leste Prime Minister’s Public Policy Officer. In the past he has worked for the World Bank, Australian Department of Defence, CMPartners, and the University of Melbourne. He was trained in Mathematics in university. In 2011 He completed a Masters’ degree in Public Policy in Singapore. Alex speaks four languages, namely Portuguese, English, Bahasa Indonesia and Tetum, Timor-Leste’s national language.

Vietnam

Nguyen Ngoc Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc is a Researcher at the Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. She graduated from the Russian University for Peoples’ Friendship with a Ph.D. in International Relations. Mrs. Ngoc was previously with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam (MOFA), and had participated in various research projects and track-2-diplomacy mechanisms in East Asia (CSCAP, ASEAN – ISIS, NEAT). She also has experience of lecturing and editing for Young Writers’ Group. Her works are focused on non-traditional security issues in East Asia and foreign policy of major powers. She has a good command of English and speaks Russian fluently.

Dang Thao

Dang is a Senior Officer for External Relations at the Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Her job involves coordinating relations between ASEAN and its external partners, including individual countries and other international/regional organizations. In this role, Dang serves as a resource person and a focal point of information or communications between the ten ASEAN Member States and their external partners. Before joining the ASEAN Secretariat, she spent 6 years working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, in the Multilateral Economic Cooperation Department, and the ASEAN Department. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the Institute for International Relations in Hanoi, Vietnam (2006) and a Master’s Degree in International Affairs/International Development from Texas A&M University (2011). Dang speaks English, French and Vietnamese.

PROGRAM FACILITATOR

Brian Lariche

The Founder of Lariche Community, Brian started his career as a tutor of Malay language and culture but moved on to his interest in community development. After running one of the first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Consultancies in Malaysia for 9 years, he started Lariche Community in 2009 with a heavier focus on Community Development, Sustainability and Institutional Capacity Building. Brian has vast experience in the area of community development. He was Project Adviser for the UNDP in the area of HIV/AIDS leadership development. He was a lead facilitator for various leadership programs in SEA managed by the British Council. He currently is Master Global Trainer with the largest global financial literacy program. Besides this, he consults for civil society organizations, MNCs, SMEs and government both locally and internationally. Brian Lariche has written, translated and adapted numerous books, manuals, and brochures on socio- medical issues and governance. He has also helped develop various inter agency collaborations. He sits on a variety of Boards addressing various social issues and concerns. Brian has a strong interest in travelling and has visited almost a 100 countries.

SPEAKERS

Professor Dato’ Dr. Anwar Fazal

Dato’ Dr Anwar Fazal is Chairman of Think City, a government-linked organization formed to spearhead community based urban regeneration in Penang - to transform the state into an ‘engine of future growth’ - in line with the Tenth Malaysia Plan. He is also currently a Professor at the Centre of Policy Research and International Studies (CENPris) at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and is among Malaysia’s leading civil society figures. His contributions in areas of consumer, environment and human rights issues have brought him both local and global recognition. He is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (popularly called the Alternative Nobel Prize), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Global 500 honour and the Mother Earth News Hall of Fame. Dato’ Anwar is also chairperson of the Malaysian Interfaith Network (MIN) and the Sustainable Penang Initiative.

Joe Sidek

Joe is Managing Director at Joe Sidek Productions and an industrialist who runs his family-owned textile chemical factory. A man of many talents, he has gone with full force into everything art and creative for over 30 years. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, and a thinking cap made up of many hats, Joe has played a major role in numerous forms of art expression – from event management, art curatorship right up to the colourful, rich world of costume design. Since 2010, Joe is known as the man behind the successful, vibrant George Town Festival in Penang, Malaysia. An annual month-long affair, George Town Festival paints the streets of Penang with brilliant performances, visual arts, culture and community-infused activities.

Kal Joffres

Kal Joffres is a serial entrepreneur and social innovator with a focus on leveraging design thinking and technology to solve tough social challenges. He is CEO and co-founder of Tandemic, a Malaysian-based social innovation firm. At Tandemic, Kal leads the design for social innovation practice, where he helps organisations design innovative products and services to solve tough social challenges ranging from diabetes prevention to financial literacy and volunteering. Partners and clients include Novo Nordisk, UNDP, Standard Chartered, and UNICEF. He is the key architect behind Makeweekend, the largest human-centred design programme in the Southeast Asia region. He is also the author of a variety of tools enabling social innovators, including the Design Thinking Toolkit and the Social Business Model Canvas, which is used in 22 countries. Kal also writes on social enterprise, social innovation and addressing systemic challenges in the social sector.

Wan Saiful Wan Jan

Wan Saiful is Chief Executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), which was ranked as the 2012 best new think tank in Asia and 5th best new think tank in the world by University of Pennsylvania”s global think tank ranking. He is also a Director of CfBT Education Malaysia; Chairman of the Board of Governors at IDEAS Autism Centre; member of the Advisory Board at Laureate International Malaysia; member of the Advisory Board of the University of Nottingham’s School of Politics, History and International Relations; and a Governor at Rafflesia Education Group. He lived in the United Kingdom between August 1993 and October 2009, where he worked for several organizations, including the think tank commonwealth Policy Studies Unit, the British Conservative Party”s Research Department, and Social Enterprise London. His opinion has been quoted by various media, including the BBC, Asian Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune and The Economist.

RESOURCE PERSONS

Simon Merrifield

Mr Merrifield is Ambassador to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Until June 2013 he held the position of DFAT Senior Spokesman and Head of Parliamentary and Media Branch. Mr Merrifield has extensive experience in ASEAN countries having served as Deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia, First Secretary, Jakarta and Second Secretary, Manila. He has lived in South-East Asia for a total of 13 years, including three years in Myanmar until 2011. Mr Merrifield speaks Indonesian and Malay and is a graduate of the Australian National University's Asian Studies program.

Dusadee Coulson

Ms Coulson is a Board Member of the Australia-Thailand Institute. She was formerly Executive Producer of the Thai language program on SBS radio. She has worked in Thailand supervising students running on-campus radio, and over the last three decades has been involved in public works in Australia, Thailand and the USA.

Philip Kimpton

Philip Kimpton is Head of the Political and Economic Section at the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumur. Previously, he served as Head of the Indonesia Political desk in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Executive Officer to the Secretary of DFAT. He served as First Secretary and Legal Adviser at the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva (2009-2012) where he was UN Coordinator on Improvised Explosive Devices. He holds Law and Economics Degrees from Sydney University and a Postgraduate Degree in Law from Cambridge University.

Carol Wong

Prior to her engagement with Unit Inovasi Khas (UNIK) and Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM), Carol was an experienced partner with Ernst & Young. She has over 23 years of business advisory experience, including complex project and change management, benchmarking studies, transformation management, market and industry studies, strategy and business planning, management and operations review for both government and private sector organizations. During Carol’s tenure with UNIK and AIM, she worked on several education initiatives including the introduction of the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme for implementation in Malaysian national schools, and the development of the 21st Century Skills and Competencies framework, for implementation. One of the key initiatives undertaken by Carol for UNIK and AIM was the establishment of Genovasi in 2012, of which she is now CEO. Genovasi is an educational organization focused on the cultivation of innovation competencies. It is also the only Design Thinking school in Malaysia. Its vision is to inspire, create and empower a movement of innovators for the betterment of self, environment and the world.

Soo Ren Chang

Ren Chang is a Innovation Psyentist at Genovasi, where he coaches senior executives, young professionals & university students in adopting design thinking in their work projects. Ren Chang has worked in the financial services industry, where he was responsible for talent management, and organisation effectiveness. In addition, he was a management consultant with Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ren Chang has worked in Hong Kong in the areas of project management and business development. He has also facilitated & trained at leadership development conferences, cultural preparation seminars, train the trainer workshops and experiential learning retreats in Vietnam, Turkey, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, and Malaysia. Ren Chang was educated at University Putra Malaysia and holds a BEng Computer & Communication Systems. In addition, he graduated from University of Nottingham with a MSc Management Psychology. He is a certified occupational ability & personality test user by the British Psychological Society.

Tan Jen Tzen

Jen Tzen graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor Degree in Business and Commerce with a double major in Accounting and Finance. He has accumulated 6 years of working experience in both the realm of auditing and advertising. His last exposure as a strategic planner in the advertising agency gave him opportunities to work with clients in both the airline and auto industries by providing them with innovative ideas and insights that the creative teams could use to make relevant and impactful ads. Today, Jen Tzen is the Vanguard of Innovation at Genovasi after undergoing the Innovation Ambassador Programme in year 2014, He now aspires to inspire others to outdo themselves by using the Design Thinking methodology.

Herizal Hazri

Herizal is Country Representative at The Asia Foundation's Malaysia office. He is responsible for program design and coordination for the Foundation's programs in Malaysia. Prior to joining the Foundation, Herizal served as a consultant with several think tanks and public policy consulting firms internationally as well as Malaysia. He is known for his civil society development efforts in Malaysia, particularly in the area of human rights and democracy. He has worked in twelve Asian countries under the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) to promote democratization efforts, namely in Indonesia, East Timor (now Timor-Leste), Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Taiwan, and his home country, Malaysia. Herizal has published three books on election observation and electoral politics: Report of the Indonesian Legislative and Presidential Election 2003-2004, Afghanistan Presidential Election 2004, and Politics of the Straits: an Observation of the Taiwan Legislative Election. He holds a degree in Economic Development, with honours, from the University of Malaya and a Masters of Science in Global Politics from the University of London.

Amir Shariff

Amir Shariff is a Program Officer in The Asia Foundation’s Malaysia office. Mr. Shariff is in charge of developing new strategies for the Foundation with a special emphasis on corporate partnerships and corporate programs. He currently overseas the Foundations longest running program, the Books for Asia Program and is now successfully expanding its reach and scale throughout Malaysia. He is also in charge of the philanthropic arm of the Foundation called Give2Asia, whereby he assess and approves grants/donations to selected causes here in Malaysia. Mr. Shariff’s background in developing business modules and plans for corporate entities has enabled him to take that knowledge and implement them into the development CSR frameworks and strategies for companies in Malaysia.

Sunita Anandarajah

Sunita Anandarajah has served as Program Officer with the Foundations’ office in Kuala Lumpur since September 2013. She comes from a business Information Technology (IT) background, where she has had the opportunity to work in both government and private sector environments. She supports the Foundation’s Malaysia-based programming, and she also works closely with the Director of International Development Cooperation on programs related to the Asian Approaches Dialogue Series, handling projects under the AusAID partnership and overall Asian Approaches Dialogue Series portfolio. She holds a Degree in Computing from Monash University.

Heather Bonnell

Heather is a Canadian student working as an intern at The Asia Foundation Malaysia office this summer. This September, Heather is entering her last year of undergraduate studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where she will be completing a major in Global Development Studies. At Queen’s, Heather is the Monitoring and Evaluations director for Queen’s Health Outreach, a student-run nonprofit dedicated to promoting health through needs-based peer education initiatives both locally and internationally. Heather is interested in public health, the environment, and global cultural/economic integration and she is hoping to focus on one of these topics in her future studies. This is her first time in Asia and will be here until the end of July.