By Surin Pitsuwan

This is an exclusive excerpt from Dr. Surin Pitsuwan’s electronic journal, edited for The Asia Foundation and In Asia, following his first 100 days in office as Secretary-General of The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Dr. Surin is a Trustee of The Asia Foundation. His personal views do not reflect those of The Asia Foundation.

The first trip out is Singapore, January 8. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies organized its annual conference, “East Asian Outlook.” Then it was meeting the ASEAN Cultures Minister in Myanmar and after that the ASEAN Tourism Minister. Then the ASEAN senior officials meeting, and then, before I could return for a fresh set of clothes in either Jakarta or Bangkok, the ASEAN Standing Committee retreat in Brunei.

The World Economic Forum in Switzerland came before I could regain my composure from all the flying and airline meals. The leaders of ASEAN, led by the current Chair, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, brought ASEAN to the world stage, high in the Swiss Alps. It was a swift operation. We swooped into the Davos Conference Center, put on our show, drove down the slippery slopes of the High Alps to Zurich, and flew off to our separate destinations. I think we left a very strong impression among the snow-bound power players of the world.
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By Jonathan Stromseth

Jonathan Stromseth is The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in China. He can be reached at infochina@asiafound.org.cn.

For many of us working in China, the May 12th earthquake was our first experience feeling a building (our office) sway. A couple minutes after realizing what was going on, staff walked down 19 flights of stairs to join hundreds of other office workers outside who slowly learned the details of the powerful earthquake that had hit nearly 1,000 miles away in southwestern Sichuan province. Two other Asia Foundation staff, visiting a project site in central Henan Province, felt larger shocks.

It wasn’t until several hours later, however, that the full scale of the damage and the number of lives lost in the mountainous region of Sichuan province became clear.
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Ten days ago, Cyclone Nargis hit Burma. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies recently estimated that the resultant death toll is between 68,833 and 127,990. The surviving Burmese citizens have been deeply affected by widespread destruction including power and telecommunication breakdowns, with some villages being completely destroyed. According to the World Food Program, vast acres of standing rice crops have been wiped out and flooding and road damages have cut off food supplies. More than a million people have become homeless and are suffering from an acute shortage of food and water.

On May 6, 2008 the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a general license to help facilitate the flow of funds for humanitarian assistance to the Burmese people in the wake of the cyclone.
 
With your support, the Give2Asia Burma Cyclone Relief Fund will work with organizations based in Southeast Asia to facilitate recovery programs. So far, Give2Asia’s partners include
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