Programs

Indonesia,Malaysia,Singapore
02/11/2010

Asia Pacific Dialogue Fellowships: Challenges to stability and development in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore

The inaugural Asia Pacific Dialogue program provided an opportunity for 10 journalists from the Asia Pacific region to discuss issues and challenges facing Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, and to make a two-week study tour of the three countries.

Fellowships for the program were awarded to five journalists from Australia and five from other Asia Pacific countries – China, Indonesia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Vietnam.

The program started in Melbourne with three days of briefings and discussion at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre and the APJC. Fellows then travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Batam Island (Indonesia), Jakarta and Yogyakarta, where they met government, business and religious leaders, academics, NGO representatives, journalists and local communities.

Topics discussed and reported on included: climate change, clean energy initiatives, cross border labor flows, security arrangements and cooperation, poverty alleviation, and the effects of the global financial crisis on livelihoods.

The APD fellowship program, which is supported by grants from The Myer Foundation and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, seeks to improve the capacity of newsrooms to report on issues and developments in the Asia Pacific region and thereby contribute to better public understanding of the region.

APJC fellows:

Australian:

Mr Dennis Atkins, national affairs editor, The Courier-Mail, Brisbane
Ms Karen Kissane, senior writer, The Age, Victoria
Mr James Massola, Capital Circle columnist and online political reporter, The Australian, Canberra
Ms Katherine Pohl, journalist, ABC, Canberra
Mr Auskar Surbakti, journalist, SBS TV News, New South Wales

International:

Mr Michael Asagoni, chief political reporter, National Broadcasting Corporation, Port Moresby, PNG
Ms Ayako Hirayama, staff writer, The Daily Yomiuri, Tokyo, Japan
Mr Nur Iskandar, senior editor, Borneo Tribune, West Kalimantan, Indonesia
Ms Thi Huong Mai Duong, senior reporter, news producer, State Television of Vietnam, Hanoi, Vietnam
Ms Zhu Ping, opinion page editor, China Daily, Beijing, China