Citations

• Apart from TV and Radio appearances, Prof Lall is regularly cited in the press (British, German, Indian,

• Pakistani, Singaporean, Russian, Polish and other national papers) on topics ranging from the Indian elections to the current security situation in Pakistan or on education and policy issues in any of the three countries.

• April 2012: The Guardian - David Cameron meets Aung San Suu Kyi – Friday 13 April

• South East Asia expert Prof Marie Lall of the Institute of Education, London, has just appeared on Sky News to say that Cameron’s visit has been “absolutely overdue”. The reforms in Burma started seven years ago, she said. The reformist Thein Sein, president since last year, still has “hardliners” in his cabinet, and “the government needs our support to continue on this way”, Lall said.

• Asked about lifting sanctions, she was emphatic that the measures had done “more harm than good, especially for the ordinary population”. They never affected the autocratic regime in power until Sein’s presidency, she said. “The sanctions were never an incentive. This [the set of reforms] is an indigenous process which was spearheaded by local civil society.” At 9:47am on the 13th April on Sky News cited by the Guardian. Click here and go to 9:47am on the time line at the Guardian site

• October 2011: The Guardian – Burma announces amnesty for more than 6,000 prisoners

Prof Marie Lall, a Burma expert at London University’s Institute of Education, said any mass release of political prisoners  would be “of huge significance”. She said: “The country is not going to turn into a western-style liberal democracy,  neither overnight, nor in the long term. But, ultimately speaking, there is change, very positive change.” However, the announcement was “nothing to do with our sanctions” and was instead aimed largely at Asean nations, Lall argued. “They’re looking at Asia – they’re not interested in Europe,” she said. “They would probably like an improved relationship with the United States, but about Europe no one really cares.”

What reforms there were could also be reversed, she warned. “There’s an epic struggle going on in Naypyidaw [Burma's junta-created new capital city] between hardliners and reformists, and we all should pray that the reformists hold their ground,” she said. “My biggest fear is that there could be a reverse coup. It’s not impossible, and that’s why the Asean free trade area is so important.

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“The more people come in, the more changes there are with mobile networks and infrastructure, the harder it will be to go back to the past.” In The Guardian: On 11th  October 2011. Read full article at Guardian site

September 2010: Pakistan: Flood-stricken children’s vulnerability on 8 September 2010. Read story at Asian press release site

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