Can a catastrophe drag the 'sick man of ASEAN' into the modern world?
Monday, June 2 at 8:00 pm
Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand
Penthouse, Maneeya Center, 518/5 Ploenchit Road, Patumwan, Bangkok
(connected to the BTS Skytrain Chitlom station)
Call it a rainfall effect, but arguably nothing has done more to threaten Burma’s official refusal to engage with the outside world than a cyclone disaster that has already killed over a hundred thousand people - and may kill many more in its largely unmanaged aftermath. The outside world’s almost complete inability to help the over two million ordinary Burmese affected by the disaster is leading to a complete re-evaluation of how this isolated and backward country should be handled. Will a belated outpouring of aid go to the next logical step: a reduction in sanctions? Will Senior General Than Shwe honour his word and allow in all foreign aid workers? Why are we discussing billions in reconstruction aid before the dead have even been buried or burnt, or the survivors fed and medicated?
Speakers include:
Derek Tonkin, the outspoken former British Ambassador to Vietnam and Thailand
Aung Naing Oo, the former foreign affairs secretary of the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF)
Larry Jagan, veteran freelance journalist with a special interest in Burma
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment