A love of Indonesian was the start of legal academic Melissa Crouch's commitment to the region that has widened to include Myanmar, Asia's newest democracy.
Australia and the United States should not be afraid to shine a spotlight on nations in the region that fall short on their human rights obligations, US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich has told a UNSW audience.
Getting humanitarian assistance through to the survivors of Burma's Cyclone Nargis may be proving difficult, but two UNSW-supported trainees are already on the ground providing much-needed crisis relief.