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Youth Voices
20 young thought leaders give their take on the challenges and opportunities of ASEAN-Australia cooperation
What is the ASEAN Australia Review?
AASYP New Release: Review 2021 and we couldnt be happier to share this news to you!
Containing youths’ voices, aspirations, brilliant ideas, and critical thinking towards various current issues in the Southeast Asia and Australia regions, The AASYP Review 2021 has been published under the theme:
YOUTH PERSPECTIVES ON CHANGING ASIA PACIFIC
The Review itself covers many sectors and issues: Climate Change and Sustainability; Politics; Transnational Maritime Security; E-commerce and Economic Policy; Trade; Education; and many more!
Featuring 20 excellent authors from 9 countries.
Special thanks to our contributors, The Australia-ASEAN Council, Organising Team, and everyone who has been involved in making the publication accessible.
Brillian Aditya Prawira Arafat
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Gian Ellis-Gannell
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Meet the Contributors
Alifia Afflatus Zahra
Indonesia
Alifia Afflatus is a bachelor degree candidate of history at Diponegoro University, Indonesia. She is mainly passionate to research about international affairs, diplomacy, youth empowerment, multiculturalism, and Abrahamic studies. Alifia is now an intern at Foreign Policy Talks and International Officer at European Student Think Tank.
Lachlan Melsom
Australia
Lachlan Melsom is an honours student in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Western Australia. He recently completed a dissertation titled Climate change and security in Southeast Asia: Implications for Australian national security.
Lara Danielle Cartujano
Philippines
Lara Danielle Cartujano is the Communications Lead of a leading Japanese ICT company’s delivery center in Manila, Philippines. She holds a Master’s degree in Asian Studies and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the University of the Philippines. Her research interests include security issues in Asia Pacific, regionalism in Asia, soft power and public diplomacy in East Asia, popular culture in East Asia, and the transnational cultural flow and hybridity in Asia.
Muhammad Anugrah Utama
Indonesia
Muhammad Anugrah Utama (Tama) is a fresh graduate of International Relations at Gadjah Mada University. As an aspiring academic, Tama is interested in ASEAN-EU affairs, human rights, gender, and non-traditional security issues. Tama has interned in CSIS Indonesia & Amnesty International Indonesia. A fun fact: They wrote this article during their short exchange program to Warsaw, Poland.
Mathew Yeo Jie Sheng
Malaysia
Mathew Yeo Jie Sheng recently graduated from the Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University. His research interests include security issues in the Indo-Pacific Region, IR theories, and the states’ strategies and responses amidst the US-China competition.
Min Thang
Myanmar
Thang completed his Master of Religious Studies (2019) and former faculty of theological seminary (2019-2021) at department of theology and human rights. He is mainly interested in religion, ethnicity, and politics of Myanmar. Thang is enjoying reading and writing. Thang have been awarded one of the two Best Paper Prizes in the category “young international scholars” at MyErn International Conference 18-19 February 2022 at University of Turin, Italy.
Phan Xuan Dung
Vietnam
Phan Xuan Dung is Research Officer at the Vietnam Studies Programme, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. His research interests include Indo-Pacific geopolitics, Vietnam’s foreign policy, and Vietnam War legacies. He has published in Asia Policy Journal, International Journal of Asian Studies, ISEAS Perspective, East Asia Forum, The Diplomat, Fulcrum, and 9DashLine.
Nguyen Cao Viet Hung
Vietnam
Nguyen Cao Viet Hung is an incoming PhD student at the Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University, Japan. His research interests are public opinions, territorial disputes and interstate conflicts.
Christina Burjan
Australia
With research interests in Chinese domestic and foreign politics, Christina holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Advanced Studies Honours Class I from the University of Sydney, as well as a diploma from the United Nations Association of Australia, and is currently completing an MPhil in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford. She was the 2021 China fellow for Young Australians in International Affairs.
Nguyen Mai Ngoc
Vietnam
Ngoc is a last-year student of RMIT University Viet Nam. She is extraordinarily motivated to develop her personal skills and grow professionally. Regarding her career, she has positioned her goals and path.
Do Huu Thanh
Vietnam
Thanh is a third-year undergraduate student currently studying at RMIT University Vietnam, Bachelor of Business Management. He is mainly interested in discovering Human Resources Development and building strategic people capability for organizational growth.
Nalin Chey
Cambodia
Nalin graduated her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies with Honors from the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Previously, she was a junior researcher at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI). With her keen interest in international studies and research, her areas of interest revolve around foreign policy, international trade, and data science.
Quah Say Jye
Singapore
Quah Say Jye is an incoming PhD student at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. His main research interests surround the politics and history of Southeast Asia, but he has side interests in the political economy of renewable energy trade in the Indo-Pacific.
Taylah Leigh Spirovski
Australia
Taylah is a lawyer and passionate human rights advocate. She is also currently the CEO of a youth-led human rights organisation and holds various positions in other not-for-profits. She graduated from the UOW in 2020 with a LLB/BPPE and has a keen interest in the application of feminist economics in Australasia.
Siti Norfariwzah
Brunei Darussalam
Siti Jaafar is an aspiring researcher and an analyst who shares a passion for Asian studies and literature; a part-time entrepreneur; and a full-time changemaker at heart. Graduated with a Degree in English Literature from Universiti Brunei Darussalam, she is currently the Managing Director of Kilang ReRoot, a social enterprise focusing on food waste management, food and agriculture initiatives in Brunei.
Bayu Arif Ramadhan
Indonesia
Bayu is a Diplomat / Foreign Service Officer Candidate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia as part of Junior Foreign Service School (SEKDILU #43). An avid learner in scientific writing and research, he is keen on multiple research issues including geopolitics and international law. He also likes to search upon sort of tranquil places to read the books.
Abigail Burbridge
Australia
Abigail is a third-year student at Murdoch University undertaking a Bachelor of Arts majoring in International Aid and Development and minoring in Molecular Biology and Public Policy. Abigail is passionate about education policy and exploring creative and unique systems that allow all students to access quality education regardless of their location or socio-economic status.
Cindy Mititelu
Australia
C. K Mititelu is a third-year Bachelor of Arts student at the University of Sydney, Australia, majoring in Media & Communications and International Relations. Her research interests look at the nexus between creativity, economics, and international relations, particularly in Australian and Asian contexts. She is captivated by the power of the arts to connect and empower communities, and hopes to build more bridges through her work.
Marcel Luis Garcia
Philippines
Luis is a first-year student studying at the University College Roosevelt in the Netherlands. While following a programme focused on the Biological Sciences, he intends to integrate his courses on human geography and economics to further contextualize growing needs in the biotechnology sector.
Kirtanac M Genason
Malaysia
Kirtanac is a final year accountancy undergraduate from University Malaysia Terengganu. She previously interned in the Research and Policy department at AGD, Ministry of Finance Malaysia and her interest are marketing, sustainability, youth empowerment, and public administration. When not researching, Kirtanac is constantly seeking to “connect the dots” between digital art and advocacy for change and action.
Felyjane Leray
Philippines
Jane is taking up her master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies at KU Leuven, Belgium. Her research interest revolves around the dynamics of religion, gender, and sexuality. As a researcher, she advances the importance of evidence-based decision-making in the government sector. On weekends, she likes to cook adobo and binge-watch anime series.
Trần Huỳnh Bảo Khánh
Vietnam
Tran Huynh Bao Khanh is currently attending his MA Programme in Vietnamese Studies at HCM University of Social Sciences and Humanities. His main interests are Chinese involvement in South East Asian trade from the 15th to 19th century, teaching Vietnamese as a foreign language and labour force movement in the 21st century.
Nguyễn Thanh Phương
Vietnam
Phuong is a Master’s degree scholar in Global Leadership at Vietnam-Japan University in Hanoi. Her interests in the social sciences and humanities are diverse, ranging from education to international relations to gender. She is interested in understanding the interactions of social actors and institutions, with the ultimate objective of alleviating suffering and improving human well-being via knowledge. Her current research focus is on higher education regionalisation.