HDFF Chairman’s Circle/ Strategic Forum determined to
“KNOWLEDGE IMPROVES LIFE” !!
“Thailand after the Vote! What follows Next?”
Welcome to CC 7
On Thursday, July 21, 2011, HDFF’s Chairman, General Bunchon Chawansin welcomed representatives from the Asia Foundation Thailand, the former group Editor of the NATION group and various high level guests to the 7th HDFF Chairman’s Circle 2011 supported by IRPC at the Rembrandt Hotel, Bangkok. It was an honor and pleasure to have renowned guest speakers for this high level event of HDFF to explain the situation related to the recent Thailand elections and its aftermath:
Mrs. Pauline Tweedie
Mrs. Pauline Tweedie, Deputy Country Representative Asia Foundation Thailand.
Pauline’s expertise is Institutional capacity-building for government agencies and civil society organizations; gender, political participation and governance; Afghanistan; and Thailand.
She joined The Asia Foundation in 2003 as regional ICT program officer based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
There, she oversaw the Community Information Center for Democracy & Development which provided communities in many provinces with their first access to computers and the Internet. Her regional accomplishments included the implementation of a secure data transfer application for the National Human Rights Commission in Nepal, the creation of an online portal for regional women’s rights in Islam, and the development of election websites for Cambodia and Indonesia. Since then, she has worked for the Foundation in various countries in Asia, serving as a capacity building adviser for the local election observation organization in Afghanistan in 2006, working on fair elections and institutional reforms in Bangladesh in 2007, and as an election program adviser in Nepal in 2008. She has been the Foundation’s deputy country representative for Thailand since July, 2009.
Mrs. Pauline also has extensive NGO experience. She has worked as a project coordinator for OXFAM Quebec in Hanoi, Vietnam and a project manager for KPNQwest at the Hague. In 2008, Pauline was a research consultant for JICA and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) conducting a comparative study on poverty reduction policies and programs for chronically poor women in Iran, Pakistan and other regional countries that resulted in proposed recommendations for the Government of Afghanistan. As a consultant for the USAID-funded Afghanistan Rule of Law Project, she conducted an assessment on women’s legal empowerment and access to justice in Afghanistan in 2008. Most recently, she was gender advisor for GTZ Afghanistan, working on a wide variety of projects that encompassed the rule of law, rural electricity, water resource management and supply, sustainable economic development, education and teacher training and emergency and transitional aid.
Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn, Former Group Editor of the Nation group.
Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn is also a publisher of English-language, The Nation and vernacular, Krungthep Turakij and Kom Chat Luek in Thailand. He has been a journalist for more than two decades covering Thai and regional politics. He was a bureau chief in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 1988-1990 and Hanoi, Vietnam from 1990-1992. He also served as special assistant to the secretary general at the Jakarta-based Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 1993-1994 before returning to journalism until the current position.
In 1993, he was a Reuters Fellow at Oxford University and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2001. He was named the Human Rights Journalist of 1998 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of UNDHR by Amnesty International, Thailand. From 1999-2003, he was the president of Thai Journalists Association. Since 1999, he chairs the Bangkok-based regional free media advocacy group, Southeast Asian Press Alliance. He also serves as President Jury of Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, UNESCO.
Guests of various INGO, international development agencies and Royal Thai Armed Forces listened to the presentations of Pauline Tweedie and Kavi Chongkittavorn about the elections from 03 July and possible outcomes for the near and midterm future.
Guests of various INGO, international development agencies and Royal Thai Armed Forces listened to the presentations of Pauline Tweedie and Kavi Chongkittavorn about the elections from 03 July and possible outcomes for the near and midterm future.
Mrs. Pauline Tweedie shared her reflection of the recent July 3, 2011 elections which included an informative photo collage in relation to the voting process as she was observing the elections in the framework of ANFREL. In general, the process went very smoothly, fairly easy and well organized with good administration. She stressed that though elections are now in the past, Thai citizens should remain active and have more concern about transparency and corruption. Mainly, vote buying from all parties. Though aware of vote buying, citizens feel secure knowing that their votes are confidential and they are free to vote as they please. One key point was that many people said they want to vote as they want to finish the political turmoil with a sound vote
Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn shared his input on whether the election will end up in political turmoil or not. He says Thai Democracy is progressing and the game is changing, people want a different rhythm. Public perception is that the new government will come in and change everything but infrastructure is not quite ready so we will see the revealing in approximately three months time, the truth will unravel.
According to Mr. Kavi, a few things to consider include: A new assessment on the military needs to be implemented to identify and measure changes as military already reformed during the last decade but this was not noticed by the public. Capacity for mass mobilization is very good and we have a unique Thai democracy. A reoccurring message from Mr. Kavi is Media, Media, Media! Mr. Kavi stressed the importance of media as a major contributor in influencing the minds of Thai society as well as globally. It is the most important part of the new government.
The event was held under the Chatham House Rules which means that information gained during this event may be used. However, the person sharing the information must not be named.
HDFF’s Chairman
Even after the photo session a very engaged and in depth discussion continued wide into the lunch with high quality inputs from various sources widened the perspectives.
HDFF would like to take the opportunity to thank the amazing guest speaker as well as the participants for their energetic involvement making the 7th HDFF Chairman’s Circle an interesting and thriving event.
The next HDFF Chairman’s Circle will commence in August dealing either with Indonesia or Thailand’s South! More information will be posted soon on the website or can be obtained via event@hdff.org
For registrations please contact herrmann@hdff.org or collein@hdff.org
HDFF Chairman’s Circle/ Strategic Forum determined to
“KNOWLEDGE IMPROVES LIFE” !!
“Thailand after the Vote! What follows Next?”
Thursday, July 21, 2011
General (ret) Bunchon Chawansin, HDFF Chairman
On Thursday, July 21, 2011, HDFF’s Chairman, General Bunchon Chawansin welcomed representatives from the Asia Foundation Thailand, the former group Editor of the NATION group and various high level guests to the 7th HDFF Chairman’s Circle 2011 supported by IRPC at the Rembrandt Hotel, Bangkok. It was an honor and pleasure to have renowned guest speakers for this high level event of HDFF to explain the situation related to the recent Thailand elections and its aftermath:
Mrs. Pauline Tweedie, Deputy Country Representative Asia Foundation Thailand.
Pauline’s expertise is Institutional capacity-building for government agencies and civil society organizations; gender, political participation and governance; Afghanistan; and Thailand.
She joined The Asia Foundation in 2003 as regional ICT program officer based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There, she oversaw the Community Information Center for Democracy & Development which provided communities in many provinces with their first access to computers and the Internet. Her regional accomplishments included the implementation of a secure data transfer application for the National Human Rights Commission in Nepal, the creation of an online portal for regional women’s rights in Islam, and the development of election websites for Cambodia and Indonesia. Since then, she has worked for the Foundation in various countries in Asia, serving as a capacity building adviser for the local election observation organization in Afghanistan in 2006, working on fair elections and institutional reforms in Bangladesh in 2007, and as an election program adviser in Nepal in 2008. She has been the Foundation’s deputy country representative for Thailand since July, 2009.
Mrs. Pauline also has extensive NGO experience. She has worked as a project coordinator for OXFAM Quebec in Hanoi, Vietnam and a project manager for KPNQwest at the Hague. In 2008, Pauline was a research consultant for JICA and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) conducting a comparative study on poverty reduction policies and programs for chronically poor women in Iran, Pakistan and other regional countries that resulted in proposed recommendations for the Government of Afghanistan. As a consultant for the USAID-funded Afghanistan Rule of Law Project, she conducted an assessment on women’s legal empowerment and access to justice in Afghanistan in 2008. Most recently, she was gender advisor for GTZ Afghanistan, working on a wide variety of projects that encompassed the rule of law, rural electricity, water resource management and supply, sustainable economic development, education and teacher training and emergency and transitional aid.
Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn, Former Group Editor of the Nation group.
Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn is also a publisher of English-language, The Nation and vernacular, Krungthep Turakij and Kom Chat Luek in Thailand. He has been a journalist for more than two decades covering Thai and regional politics. He was a bureau chief in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 1988-1990 and Hanoi, Vietnam from 1990-1992. He also served as special assistant to the secretary general at the Jakarta-based Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 1993-1994 before returning to journalism until the current position.
In 1993, he was a Reuters Fellow at Oxford University and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2001. He was named the Human Rights Journalist of 1998 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of UNDHR by Amnesty International, Thailand. From 1999-2003, he was the president of Thai Journalists Association. Since 1999, he chairs the Bangkok-based regional free media advocacy group, Southeast Asian Press Alliance. He also serves as President Jury of Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, UNESCO.
Guests of various INGO, international development agencies and Royal Thai Armed Forces listened to the presentations of Pauline Tweedie and Kavi Chongkittavorn about the elections from 03 July and possible outcomes for the near and midterm future.
Mrs. Pauline Tweedie shared her reflection of the recent July 3, 2011 elections which included an informative photo collage in relation to the voting process as she was observing the elections in the framework of ANFREL. In general, the process went very smoothly, fairly easy and well organized with good administration. She stressed that though elections are now in the past, Thai citizens should remain active and have more concern about transparency and corruption. Mainly, vote buying from all parties. Though aware of vote buying, citizens feel secure knowing that their votes are confidential and they are free to vote as they please. One key point was that many people said they want to vote as they want to finish the political turmoil with a sound vote
Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn shared his input on whether the election will end up in political turmoil or not. He says Thai Democracy is progressing and the game is changing, people want a different rhythm. Public perception is that the new government will come in and change everything but infrastructure is not quite ready so we will see the revealing in approximately three months time, the truth will unravel.
According to Mr. Kavi, a few things to consider include: A new assessment on the military needs to be implemented to identify and measure changes as military already reformed during the last decade but this was not noticed by the public. Capacity for mass mobilization is very good and we have a unique Thai democracy. A reoccurring message from Mr. Kavi is Media, Media, Media! Mr. Kavi stressed the importance of media as a major contributor in influencing the minds of Thai society as well as globally. It is the most important part of the new government.
The event was held under the Chatham House Rules which means that information gained during this event may be used. However, the person sharing the information must not be named.
Even after the photo session a very engaged and in depth discussion continued wide into the lunch with high quality inputs from various sources widened the perspectives.
HDFF would like to take the opportunity to thank the amazing guest speaker as well as the participants for their energetic involvement making the 7th HDFF Chairman’s Circle an interesting and thriving event.
The next HDFF Chairman’s Circle will commence in August dealing either with Indonesia or Thailand’s South! More information will be posted soon on the website or can be obtained via event@hdff.org
For registrations please contact herrmann@hdff.org or collein@hdff.org
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