Asialink Fellows
Asialink's Track II Specialist
Professor Anthony Milner
Professor Anthony Milner has been appointed as Professorial Fellow in the Faculty of Arts, with an attachment to Asialink. He is currently Basham Professor of Asian History at the Australian National University, preceding this appointment with a decade as Dean of Asian Studies. Other positions have included Director of The Academy of the Social Sciences’ major project on Australian-Asian Perceptions and visiting appointments at The Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), Humboldt University, The Research Institute for the Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (Tokyo), the National University of Singapore (Raffles Visiting Professor of History).
Professor Milner’s work with the Commonwealth Government includes membership of the Foreign Affairs Council (1997-), the foundation committees of the Australia Thailand Institute (2005-) and the Australia Malaysia Institute (2005-), and Australian Research Council panels on ‘Asia’ and ‘Humanities’,
Professor Milner’s principal role with Asialink and the University of Melbourne is the continued development of Asialink’s Track II diplomacy initiatives to strengthen ASEAN-Australia relations and engage Australia in the Asia region. A member of the original organizing committee of Asialink’s key Track II initiative, the Asialink Conversations, he most recently co-convened the fifth Conversations, in India in October 2008. Professor Milner also coordinated the inaugural ASEAN-ISIS-Australia-New Zealand Dialogue, with Australian partners, the Australian National University and the Lowy Institute, and the influential Southeast Asian Track II organisation, ASEAN-ISIS.
Asialink’s Track II initiatives, Professor Milner judges, are vital if Australia is to build itself into the emerging architecture of the Asian region. He sees a “very useful synergy” between his Asialink work, and his current role as Co-Chair of the Australian Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (Aus-CSCAP). CSCAP, he points out, is well established and has given Australians an opportunity to expand their links with those influencing government security policy around the Asian region.
With respect to his input into Track II initiatives, Asialink CEO Jenny McGregor observes Professor Milner’s concern to “understand cultural differences in forensic detail has been invaluable in bringing together countries and building an environment to resolve conflict and create meaningful relationships”.
Professor Milner also continues to convene the ‘Canberra Retreat’ for the Asialink Leadership Program - in which some fifty participants from the business, political, arts, media and academic sectors in Sydney and Melbourne meet over a week with leading policymakers, diplomats and commentators.
Professor Milner’s appointment is expected to reinforce Asialink’s role as the leading forum for public analysis of Australia-Asia issues. Jenny McGregor comments “he has an extraordinary ability to bring academic expertise to a business and government dialogue to deliver relevant political outcomes”.
A graduate of Monash University and Cornell University, Professor Milner is also a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In 2007 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to education “as an academic and author, and to international relations through the development of cross-cultural education and outreach activities”.
Professor Milner’s publications include Australia in Asia (3 vols, Oxford University Press) and writings of Southeast Asian history. His Kerajaan: Malay Political Culture on the Eve of Colonial Ruler was selected in 2003 as one of 25 “works of major importance to historical studies” and most frequently cited in the field of Southeast Asian history (Association for Asian Studies in the USA on behalf of the American Council of Learned Societies). His most recent book is The Malays (Blackwell, 2008).
University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis describes Professor Milner as a scholar of international standing and says “through Asialink and the Arts Faculty, Tony Milner’s scholarship and experience will make a real contribution, especially to the University’s knowledge transfer and research activities”.
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Professor Tony Milner with
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Opening statement by Professor Tony Milner to the inquiry into ‘Australia’s relationship with ASEAN’ , to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Parliament House.