Debate on stage N°5 : «Power issues and social challenges in Southeast Asia»
Roundtable discussion / Debate
Debate on stage N°5 : « Power issues and social challenges in Southeast Asia »
Date : Tuesday 16 June 2015, from 7.30 to 9.30 pm
Venue : Auditorium, Alliance Française de Bangkok
While nearly 52 percent of the Burmese population remains without electricity compared to 69 percent in Cambodia and 45 percent in Laos, the demand for power has skyrocketed in megacities such as Jakarta, Singapore and Bangkok.
To help us comprehend the gap between the ever-growing demand for electricity and the limited energy supply, the discussion will focus on the interdependence between power issues and social challenges.
- Two straightforward and concrete examples will illustrate this far more eloquently than complex theories : the development of Brunei, which is in itself a paradox encapsulated in three elements : petroleum/education/shariah ; and the fact that Thailand must reconcile national and local interest with economic and environmental consideration that often clash with each other.
- Faced with such challenges, Asean countries lean toward renewable energy among which figure the Mekong River countries’ electrical dams which caused deforestation and communities’ expropriation.
- Energy and social challenges are so inextricably linked that it brings up this question : Won’t the 2015 Asean Economic Community depend on the future Asean Power Grid ?
Four distinguished experts in political science, economy and social sciences will address this through specific cases of global scope that they have studied.
The roundtable and debate will be simultaneously translated into French and Thai. This event is organized by Alliance française with IRASEC (Institut de recherche sur l’Asie du Sud-Est contemporaine) in partnership with the Department of Cooperation and Cultural Programs of the French Embassy in Thailand.Many times a year, with focus on the themes of : “Contemporary Challenges”, “Arts and Literature” and “History : Which Histories ?”, Debates on Stage allows the public to meet with personalities from the artistic, economic, political and scientific world.
Participants of roundtable:
- Dr. Thitisak Boonpramote (Head of the Department of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Chulalongkorn University)
- Prof Dr. Marie-Sybille de Vienne (Vice-présidente, INALCO)
- Prof. Dr. Eric Mottet (Professor in geopolitics, University of Quebec in Montreal)
- Prof. Dr. Nawal Kamel (Visiting Professor, Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University and Coordinator of the AEMI Project)
- Modérateur : Dr. François Robinne (Director of IRASEC)
