Michael Vatikiotis is the Asia Regional Director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Based in Singapore, he travels extensively, promoting dialogue and conflict resolution in Asia. He has a decade of experience working to mitigate conflicts in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand as well as Myanmar. Formerly a BBC correspondent, also editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, Michael has been a writer, broadcaster and journalist in Asia for 30 years. He has lived in Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. He is an eminent expert on Indonesia, with his books Indonesian Politics under Suharto and Political Change in Southeast Asia remaining on university curricula. He has also written two novels: The Spice Garden and The Painter of Lost Souls. Michael’s latest book, Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia, was published in June 2017. He is a graduate of SOAS and Oxford Universities, he speaks fluent Thai and several Indonesian languages, and he is a member of the Asia Society’s International Council.