Workshop and Conference Speakers

Henedina Razon-Abad
The Philippines

Hendina Razon-Abad is the Congressional Representative of the lone district of Batanes in the Philippines. She has been actively involved in Metro Manila public affairs for many years. Abad was the former dean of Ateneo de Manila University’s School of Government and remains a member of the faculty. She was a teaching assistant at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government where she received her Master’s in Public Administration.

Krishna Bose
India

Krishna Bose has been a three time Member of Parliament in India in the Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Lok Sabhas. During the term of the Thirteenth Lok Sabha (1999-2004) she served as Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs in India, which oversees the conduct of India’s foreign policy. Her predecessors in this committee were A.B. Vajpayee and I.K. Gujaral.

Krishna Bose raised her voice in Parliament repeatedly on the question of ensuring fair representation of women in the highest decision making bodies of India. She introduced a Private Member's Bill in the Indian Parliament which would make it mandatory for all political parties to see to it that when they select candidates for elections at least forty percent of them would be women.     

Actively involved in public work, Krishna Bose is Vice-President and founder member of the Institute of Child Health, Calcutta, Chairperson of the Netaji Research Bureau, an Institution of History, Politics and Current Affairs, President of Vivek Chetana - an organization for disadvantaged women and children, and a member of the international P.E.N.

Ms. Hsu Chia-ching
Taiwan

Ms. Hsu Chia-ching is the director of the Department of Women’s Development, and since 2002, she has served as a councilor for Taipei City. Ms. Hsu has been actively involved in the women movement and gender equality in Taiwan for many years. From 1995 to 1999, she served as the Secretary General of the ‘Taipei Association for the Promotion of Women’s Rights’, and from 2000 to 2002, she served as the Secretary General of Taiwan Women’s Link.

Ms. Hsu was awarded a master’s degree of Health and Welfare Policy by National Yang-Ming University in 2002. She also took graduate studies at the Institute of Sociology of Marburg University in Germany.

Hon. Kim Myung-ja, MP
Korea

Dr. Kim Myung Ja is a National Assembly Member of the Republic of Korea. Dr. Kim currently serves on the National Defense Committee & Special Committee on Future Strategy, and is also an advisor and planning consultant to the ruling Uri Party. Since 2004, Dr. Kim has served as Head of the Uri Party’s Science and Technology Advancement Team, and the Head of the Task Force on Low Birthrate and Aging Population .

From 1999 to 2003, Dr. Kim served as Minister of Environment and prior to her work in government, she was a Distinguished Professor at Myongji University.

Dr. Kim received her B.S. in Chemistry from Seoul National University and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia, U.S.A.

Ms. Liu Shyh-fang
Taiwan

Ms. Liu is currently the International Policy Advisor of the Democratic Progressive Party, and she previously served as Secretary General to the Executive Yuan. She was also a Legislator for Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan and Deputy Magistrate of Taichung County.

Ms. Liu has recently returned after serving as a visiting fellow of the CNAPS Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. She received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tamkang University of Taiwan.

Her Excellency Vice President Annette Lu
Taiwan

Ms. Lu was born in Taoyuan in the north of Taiwan and graduated from Taiwan’s top girls’ high school before attending Law School at National Taiwan University, where she graduated first in her class. She then went on to earn her Master’s degree in Law from both the University of Illinois and Harvard. She returned to Taiwan in 1978 and became an outspoken critic of the KMT government. She was jailed in 1979, and when released in 1985, she continued her work for political rights in Taiwan, traveling across the globe and calling for greater democracy and international recognition of Taiwan.

In 1993, Ms. Lu was elected to the Legislative Yuan as a member of the DPP and she served for three years, during which she played a prominent role on the Foreign Relations Committee. She was asked to serve as National Policy Advisor under President Lee Teng-hui. Ms. Lu then ran for Taoyuan County Governor and was elected to the position in 1997.

On May 20, 2000, Ms. Lu became the first female Vice-President of Taiwan and has devoted even greater energy to promoting human rights, democracy, peace, love and high technology in Taiwan. In recognition of her great works, she was awarded the 2001 World Peace Prize.

Hon. Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
Belgium

Ms. Neyts-Uyttebroeck is currently Belgium’s Minister of State and the President of the European Liberals Democrats Party. She is also a Member of the European Parliament, and was formerly the President of Liberal International, where she became an Initial Signatory for the Win with Women Global Initiative by the National Democratic Institute.

From 1981-1994 and from 2003-2004, Ms. Neyts-Uyttebroeck served as Member of the House of Representatives of Belgium. Previously from 1973 to 1975, Ms. Neyts-Uyttebroeck served as Press Officer for Belgium’s Minister of Justice, and as Junior Chief of Staff of the Vice-Governor of Barbant Province from 1975-1981.

Ms. Neyts-Uyttebroeck was born in Brussels and received university degrees in French, Secondary School Teaching, and Press and Social Communication from the Free University of Brussels.

Hon. Anisah Mahfudz, MP
Indonesia

Ms. Mahfudz is the Vice Chairman of National Awakening Party (PKB) Malang. She is the Vice Chairman of the Woman Movement of National Awakening Party (PW-PPKB) in East Java and currently a member of the Dewan Syuro of Central Board of National Awakening Party.

Ms. Mahfudz finished Public Administration from Brawijaya University, Malang and is currently taking up a Post Graduate degree of the same course also in Brawijaya University.

Hon. Tan Lian Hoe, MP
Malaysia

Ms. Tan currently serves as a Member of Parliament for the Malaysian Parliament, and the Women National Deputy Secretary for the Parti Gerakan Rakyat of Malaysia. Ms. Tan is also the Chairman of the Women Perak State, Division Chairman of the Bukit Gantang Division, and Chairman of the Kota Jaya Branch.

Ms. Tan received her B.A. at the University of Malaya and M.SC. in Management at the Northern University of Malaysia.

Hon. Saumura Tioulong, MP
Cambodia

Madam Tioulong obtained her MBA as well as her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Paris. She later started her successful business career in Paris. From 1993 to 1995, she became the Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Cambodia. Madam Tioulong has been supporting the democratic development in Cambodia since she was in Paris.

Ms. Yeh Yi-jin, MP
International Network of Liberal Women

A Taiwan native, Ms. Yeh represents the International Network of Liberal Women as a Member of the Bureau. She was elected to this position in Liberal International’s 52^nd Congress in Dakar, Senegal. Ms. Yeh currently serves as a Legislator for Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan. She was previously the Director of the DPP’s Department of Women’s Development.

Ms. Yeh was the Vice-Chief Advisor of the Shui Tan-Tan Women’s Campaign Team for the 2000 Presidential Election. She has been heavily involved in Taiwanese government and politics as a member of the Association of Sustainable Development, Executive Committeewoman at the DPP Headquarters and a member of the subcommittee for Legislative Yuan reform. She was formerly an instructor at Taichung Teachers’ College and Tainan’s Teachers’ College.

Moderators

Ms. Chee Siok Chin
Singapore

Ms. Siok Chin is a member of the Singapore Democratic Party Central Executive Committee.  

Dr. Rajiva Wijesinha
Sri Lanka

Dr. Wijesinha is the President of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka and Languages at the University of Sabaragamuwa. He received his Ph.D. from Oxford University of the United Kingdom. He has authored several books – both fiction and non-fiction – and his works have been translated into several languages. He is also a consultant for the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka. 

Mr. David Taw
Burma

Mr. Taw is a member of the National Council of the Union of Burma. He is also a member of the CALD Executive Committee.

Ms. Bi-khim Hsiao
Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats

Bi-khim Hsiao is one of the youngest female politicians in current Taiwanese politics. Ms. Hsiao is now serving as the Secretary General of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), and is an elected Legislator in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan. Serving as a senior member of Taiwan’s Foreign Relations Committee, she is also the director of the Department of International Affairs at the Democratic Progressive Party.

Ms. Hsiao was elected as a Vice President of Liberal International during LI’s 53^rd Congress in Sofia, Bulgaria, and is the first Bureau member from Asia to be elected to this position.

Previously, Ms. Hsiao served as an advisor to President Chen, and acted as a spokesperson for President Chen’s successful election and re-election campaign of 2000 and 2004. Additionally, she was a consultant to the Mainland Affairs Council, engaging in peace and development in the cross strait region.