RSIS Seminar by Mr Said Faisal, Visiting Senior Fellow, RSIS; and Senior Advisor to Minister/Head of BNPB (National Disaster Management Agency of Indonesia)
Catalysts for change: Natural Disasters in ASEAN
Lecture Abstract:
On 26 December 2004, an undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Over the next several hours a series of immense oceans waves triggered by the quake affected communities across the Indian Ocean. It became known as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami which killed at least 225,000 people across a dozen countries. Indonesian officials estimated that the death toll ultimately exceeded more than 200,000, particularly affecting the province of Aceh. Following the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Said Faisal was appointed as Deputy Head and Minister for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR Aceh-Nias), a ministerial level agency of the Government of Indonesia mandated to coordinate and implement the overall rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. Four years later, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar causing widespread devastation. In its wake, Said Faisal served as Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy to the Secretary-General of ASEAN and Head of Operations of the ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force. In this seminar, Said Faisal shares his experience of how the devastating effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and 2008 Cyclone Nargis were catalysts for change in regional cooperation on disaster management within the ASEAN context that ultimately led to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response which came into effect on 24 December 2009, and led to the establishment of the AHA Centre in 2011.
About the Speaker:
Said Faisal has more than 15 years of senior management and leadership experience in government, international and regional organizations. He was a former Executive Director of the the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (the AHA Centre), an agency that is responsible to coordinate the overall effort of 10 countries of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in disaster management. As the first Executive Director of the AHA Centre, he was tasked to set up, build and fully operationalise the newly established organisation from the very beginning. Prior to that, he worked with the President’s Delivery Unit for Development, Monitoring & Oversight of Republic of Indonesia.
Following the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster in December 2004, he was appointed as Deputy Minister/Head of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR Aceh-Nias), a ministerial level agency of the Government of Indonesia mandated to coordinate and implement the overall rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. He also served as Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy of Secretary General of ASEAN and Head of Operation of ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis disaster in Myanmar.
In the wake of Asian financial crises in 1997-1998, Mr. Faisal worked as Senior Manager at the Jakarta Initiative Task Force, an agency established by the Government of Indonesia and supported by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank for accelerating corporate debt restructuring through mediation as a commercial dispute resolution process between debtors and creditors. Throughout his career, he also worked at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Jakarta, Indonesia as well as Phoenix Home Life, a financial services company, in Chicago, USA.
During his previous positions, he had been invited as a speaker and keynote at national, regional and global events and conferences in various countries. Currently, in addition as a speaker, facilitator and moderator at number of events, he is also a registered mediator, trainer and coach for mediation and negotiation at the Indonesian Mediation Center and Senior Advisor to Minister/ Head of National Disaster Management Agency of Indonesia (BNPB). He received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics/Management from Syiah Kuala University, Aceh, Indonesia and Master’s degree in Insurance/Finance from the University of Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
