About the Roundtable

The 2021 military coup d’état in Myanmar fundamentally altered its political and economic trajectory. The growth potential following democratization has now been replaced by nationwide insecurity and a deeply fractured society. Global geopolitical differences have been accentuated by opinions on how best to resolve the crisis, while ASEAN heads into uncharted waters as it attempts to implement its Five Point Consensus. David Liang had a front-row seat to events on the ground as a diplomat in Yangon during the coup. This closed-door roundtable will discuss the ramifications of the coup on Myanmar and the region today, bringing a practitioner’s view of the domestic and international dynamics affecting the country as the search for conflict resolution continues.

About The Speakers

David Liang served as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Singapore Embassy in Myanmar from March 2019 to March 2023. David joined the Singapore foreign service in 2009, and served as the Assistant Director of the South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa Directorate from 2016-2019. He was posted to the Singapore Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium from 2012-2016. While at the Ministry headquarters, he also covered the ASEAN and Middle East portfolios. David received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Biochemistry from Kansas State University in the USA in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Joel Ng is Research Fellow and Deputy Head of the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS). His research focuses on regionalism, integration, security, and intervention norms, focusing on ASEAN and its dialogue partners as well as the African Union. He began his career in international affairs working in Uganda on peace, conflict, and refugee issues. He has also worked in the private sector in Singapore in public and investor relations. He is presently in the Singapore committee for the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP). Dr Ng is the author of Contesting Sovereignty: Power and Practice in Africa and Southeast Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2021). He has a DPhil from the University of Oxford, where he was an Oxford-Swire and Tan Kah Kee scholar, and also holds a MA (Distinction) from the University of Sussex, and a BA (Hons) from the University of East Anglia.