Michael Vatikiotis has over a decade of experience working as a private diplomat and conflict mediator; prior to that he worked as a journalist in Asia for thirty years, working for the BBC and then as editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review.
Vatikiotis joined the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in 2005 and has worked on promoting and facilitating dialogue in armed conflict around Asia. The BBC reported that when he was brought in to negotiate between the Thai government and protesting Red Shirts in the heart of Bangkok in 2010, ‘He discovered that though the rebels hadn’t spoken face to face with the government, they were being phoned by government ministers on their mobiles and conducting ad hoc negotiations on the move. He had to persuade the Red Shirts to put their demands down in writing, rather than relying on unstructured negotiations with the authorities.’
Michael has lived in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong and currently resides in Singapore.
His latest book, Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia, was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Hachette in summer 2017 to great acclaim, and glowing reviews, and has been selling steadily ever since.
His two previous works of non-fiction, Indonesian Politics Under Suharto and Political Change in Southeast Asia: Trimming the Banyan Tree continues to be read widely, and used as standard texts on university-curricula.