MYANMAR STUDIES PROGRAMME

About the Webinar

ISEAS Myanmar Studies Programme invites two expert researchers to discuss Myanmar’s humanitarian needs and challenges, including the challenges of addressing those needs, in the post-2021 coup environment. Various communities in post-coup Myanmar have different coping strategies (and needs) in navigating the changing political, administrative, and socio-economic situation. At the same time, conflict in Myanmar has continued to escalate in several parts of the country, causing more displacement (including migration across borders) and attendant humanitarian challenges. The Myanmar military’s enforcement of the conscription law and recent weather events have added to these challenges. Efforts and approaches by international and regional actors have been unable to effectively address Myanmar’s humanitarian dilemmas. The complex realities of Myanmar’s ongoing conflict require conversations on multiple-track humanitarian assistance approaches, and the need to consider the longer-term impact of current responses.

About the Speakers

Dr Su Mon Thazin Aung is a Visiting Fellow with the Myanmar Studies Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. She was previously an Associate Fellow with the programme. Before joining ISEAS, she was Director of Capacity-Building at the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar), an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental think tank in Myanmar.

Dr Surachanee Sriyai is a Visiting Fellow with the Media, Technology and Society Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. She is also the interim director of the Center for Sustainable Humanitarian Action with Displaced Ethnic Communities (SHADE) under the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Chiang Mai University.

Registration

This webinar will be delivered online entirely. To join us, please register here to receive your unique link.

Please note that each registration is good for only one login at any one time during the event.

MYANMAR STUDIES PROGRAMME

About the Webinar

Please join the Myanmar Studies Programme at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute for a conversation with analysts and experts on the aftermath of the second phase of Operation 1027 in late June 2024 in Myanmar’s northern Shan State. The discussion will consider the implications for the ongoing conflict in Myanmar in the context of Naypyidaw’s receding administrative reach in several parts of the country, China’s conception of its interests in Myanmar, the aspirations, alliances, and actions of various resistance forces and ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar, and the feasibility of the State Administration Council regime’s stated aim to convene elections.

About the Speakers

Amara Thiha is a doctoral researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). He has over eight years of experience in peace and security dialogue, ceasefire and conflict management, and foreign policy/public diplomacy matters related to Myanmar. Amara was involved in the negotiations for the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement through its signing. His past research affiliations include the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security and the Stimson Center.

Yun Sun is a Senior Fellow, Co-Director of the East Asia Program, and Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center. She leads the Stimson Center’s Myanmar project. Before joining Stimson, Yun Sun worked on China’s national security decision-making processes as a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution and on China’s foreign policy as a China Analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Kyaw Yin Hlaing (Discussant) is a Visiting Senior Fellow in the Myanmar Studies Programme at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and a visiting scholar in Cornell University’s Southeast Asia Program. Dr Kyaw has taught at the City University of Hong Kong and the National University of Singapore. A former member of the National Economic and Social Council, and a former director of the political dialogue programme at the Myanmar Peace Center from 2012 to 2015, Dr. Kyaw founded the Center for Diversity and National Harmony in 2014. He is currently researching what has gone wrong with Myanmar’s democratic transition.

Registration

This webinar will be delivered online entirely. To join us, please register here to receive your unique link.

Please note that each registration is good for only one login at any one time during the event.

MYANMAR STUDIES PROGRAMME

About the Webinar

ISEAS Myanmar Studies Programme invites three expert analysts to discuss how the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has responded to the multi-faceted crisis in Myanmar catalysed after the Myanmar military deposed the civilian National League for Democracy government in a coup on 1 February 2021. Limited by the bounds of regional diplomacy as its primary means of intervention, ASEAN has sought various ways to address the challenges faced by Myanmar people since the coup and to bring about a cessation of violence. However, three years and counting after the coup, violence has escalated and intensified, while differing sentiments within ASEAN influence the grouping’s engagement with different political stakeholders in and outside Myanmar. Spillover effects of the crisis in Myanmar are increasingly felt by neighbouring countries in the region, causing more concern for regional stability and security. Three years and counting after the 2021 coup in Myanmar, the relevance of ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar is under scrutiny, as are concerns on ASEAN’s future steps regarding the Myanmar crisis, amidst shifting geopolitical and regional trends, changes in leadership in several ASEAN states, and the Myanmar military regime’s intent to convene general elections in 2025.

About the Speaker

Sharon Seah is a Senior Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, where she concurrently serves as Coordinator of the ASEAN Studies Centre and the Climate Change in Southeast Asia Programme.

Lina Alexandra is currently the Head of the Department of International Relations, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in Jakarta.

Lilianne Fan is the Joint Head of Secretariat of the Malaysian Advisory Group on Myanmar.

Registration

This webinar will be delivered online entirely. To join us, please register here to receive your unique link.

Please note that each registration is good for only one login at any one time during the event.

MYANMAR STUDIES PROGRAMME

About the Webinar

When the Myanmar military seized state power in 2021, Delhi and Bangkok were among Myanmar’s neighbours continuing engagement with the State Administration Council (SAC) military regime in Naypyidaw for pragmatic reasons. Thailand initiated, and India continued, Track 1.5 “neighbour diplomacy” discussions with the SAC. Delhi and Bangkok have opted to continue economic interactions with Naypyidaw, amid escalating conflict along the respective borders. The shift in conflict dynamics in Myanmar has also affected how Delhi and Bangkok view and address refugee/migrant flows, and the increasing visibility and spread of transnational crime activities along the border.

The ISEAS Myanmar Studies Programme invites two analysts to discuss the choices, concerns and options for Delhi and Bangkok in their continuing interactions with Naypyidaw as the 2021 coup aftermath enters a fourth year.

About the Speakers

Angshuman Choudhury is currently Associate Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He previously coordinated the South East Asia Research Programme at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi. Angshuman follows developments in Myanmar and Northeast India, focusing on, among others, ethnic armed conflicts, peace processes, Rohingya crisis, and foreign policy. He is also the co-founder of Myanmar India Collective, a collaborative knowledge network of scholars from India and Myanmar.

Bhanubhatra Jittiang is the Vice Dean for Academic and International Affairs, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He is also the Founding Director of the Nelson Mandela Center for Conflict Resolution, Atrocity Prevention, and Human Security, and has researched the human security challenges of Myanmar refugees in Thailand.

Moe Thuzar (discussant) is a senior fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, where she coordinates the Myanmar Studies Programme. Moe was a lead researcher in the ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS from 2008 to 2019, and spent nine years at the ASEAN Secretariat prior to joining ISEAS. She has co-authored, co-edited, and contributed to several compendia and edited volumes on ASEAN, and Myanmar.

Registration

This webinar will be delivered online entirely. You can join the webinar at the specified date and time using devices (computer, phone, or tablet) with internet connection.

Please register here to receive your unique link for joining the webinar.

If you have questions for the speaker, please key in your questions via the Q&A, stating your name and affiliation. The moderator will field them to the speakers during the Q&A session.